r intended attack on Fort Prescott to be
searching the woods in the night for a lone fugitive, who, moreover, had
shown a great capacity for escaping.

The night was dark and a cool wind was blowing. A less hardy body would
have been chilled by the immersion in the Ohio, but Henry did not feel
it. He was now studying the country, half by observation and half by
instinct. It was hilly, as was natural along the course of the river,
but the hills seemed to increase in height toward the north and east,
that is, up the stream. It was reasonable to infer that Fort Prescott
lay in that direction, as its builders would choose a high point for a
site.

Henry began his advance, sure that the fort was not far away. The wind
rose, drying his yellow hair and blowing it about his face. His
clothing, too, began to dry, but he was unconscious of it. The dusky sky
served him well. There were but few stars, and the moon was only
half-hearted. Nevertheless, he kept well in the thickets, although he
veered back toward the Ohio, and now and then he saw its broad surface
turned from yellow to silver in the faint moonlight. He saw, also, two
or three dark spots near the shore, moving slowly, and he knew that they
were Indian canoes. Girty and his force were almost ready for the attack
on the fort. A portion of the band was already crossing to the southern
shore, and it was likely that the attack would be made from several
sides.

Henry increased his pace and came into a little clearing partly filled
with low stumps, while others that had either been partially burned or
dragged out by the roots lay piled on one side. It looked like a poor
little effort of man to struggle with the wilderness, and Henry smiled
in the darkness. If this tiny spot were left alone, and it surely would
be if Fort Prescott fell, the forest would soon claim it again. But he
was glad to see it, because it was a sign that he was approaching the
fort.

A little further on he came to a small field of Indian corn, the fresh
green blades shimmering in the moonlight and giving forth a pleasant,
crooning sound as the wind blew gently upon them. Beyond, on the crest
of the hill, he saw a dark line that was a palisade, and beyond that a
blur that was roofs. This obviously was Fort Prescott, and Henry
examined it with the eye of a general.

The place was located well for defense, on the top of a bare hill, with
the forest nowhere nearer than two hundred yards and the underb