l tale, or I'll drag
it out o' you."

Henry, reluctantly and minimizing his part as much as he could, told the
story of the blowing up of the flatboat and the cannon. Shif'less Sol
was hugely delighted.

"Them shore wuz lively doin's," he said. "Wish I'd been thar. I'll
always be sorry I missed it. An' at the last you wuz saved by Dan'l
Boone an' Simon Kenton. Them are shorely great men, Henry. I ain't ever
heard o' any that could beat 'em, not even in Paul's tales. I reckin
Dan'l Boone and Simon Kenton kin do things that them Carthaginians,
Alexander an' Hannibal an' Caesar an' Charley-mane, couldn't even get
started on."

"They certainly know some things that those men didn't."

"More'n some. They know a pow'ful lot more. I reckon, Henry, that Dan'l
Boone is the greatest man the world has yet seed."

Henry said nothing. The shiftless one's simple admiration and faith
appealed to him. They rested a while longer, and then Henry asked:

"Sol, do you think that we can find Tom Ross?"

"Ef he's alive, we kin. We jest got to."

"I knew that would be your answer. Do you think you will be strong
enough to start in the morning?"

"I've been weak, Henry, but I'm gainin' now mighty fast. I didn't suffer
much 'cept loss o' blood, an' me bein' so healthy, I'm making gallons o'
new first-class blood every day. Yes, Henry, I think I kin start after
Tom to-morrow mornin'."

"Then we'll find him if he's alive, but we'll spend the time until then
in quiet here."

"'Ceptin' that I'm boun' to cook my turkey to-night."

Henry presently climbed to the top of the bank, a distance of eight or
ten feet above the hollow, but precipitous. It was probably this
steepness that had prevented any large wild animal from using the place
as a lair. It would also make attack by Indians, should any come,
extremely difficult, but Henry did not anticipate any danger from them
now, as their attention was centered on the fort and the fleet.

Shif'less Sol followed him up the cliff, and when they stood on the hill
Henry noticed again the thinness of his comrade. But the color was
returning to his cheeks, and his eye had regained the alert, jaunty look
of old. Henry calculated that in a week Shif'less Sol would be nearly as
strong as ever. The shiftless one saw his measuring look, and understood
it.

"My time ez a fisherman is over," he said. "I'll be a hunter, an'
explorer, an' fighter of warriors ag'in. But I think, Henry, we ought to
reme