mber the hollow, an' keep it ez one o' them places Paul calls inns.
Ef we wuz ever 'roun' here ag'in, we might want to drop in an' rest a
while."

Henry agreed with him, and examined the country for a distance of about
a half mile. He did not see any evidence of warriors, but he knew they
could not be far away and he returned to the hollow, where he and
Shif'less Sol spent the rest of the day, each lying upon a bed of leaves
and gazing through the screen of bushes toward the shimmering surface of
the lake. Nor did they say much, only a word or two now and then.

Henry felt a great sense of luxury. He did not realize fully until now
all that he had been through recently, the mighty strain that had been
put upon his nervous organization, and the absolute freedom from any
sort of effort, whether mental or physical, was precious to him.

It was almost the twilight hour when they heard the faint whirring of
wings. Henry looked up through half-closed eyes. A cloud of wild ducks,
hundreds of them, settled down upon the lake.

"I'd like to take a shot at them," he said. "There's nothing better than
a wild duck cooked as Jim Hart can cook it."

"But I wouldn't shoot jest now if I were you," said the shiftless one,
"'cause somebody else is ahead of you."

Henry came at once from his dreamy state and rose to a sitting position.
Two Indians were walking down to the edge of the lake. He saw them
clearly through the curtain of bushes and leaves. They held guns in
their hands, and their eyes were on the ducks, which fairly blackened a
portion of the lake's surface.

"They're lookin' fur food, not scalps," whispered the shiftless one.
"Tain't likely they'll see my blazed tree, specially since dark is
comin' on."

The two Indians fired into the cloud of ducks, then waded in and took at
least a dozen dead ones. The foolish ducks flew further up the lake and
settled down again, where a further slaughter was committed. Then the
Indians, loaded with the spoil, went away.

"Them warriors had shotguns," said Shif'less Sol, "an' they were out
huntin' fur some big war party, most likely, one o' them that's watchin'
the fort. But they ain't dreamin' that fellers like you and me are
aroun' here, Henry."

The night dropped down like a great black mask over the face of the
world, and Shif'less Sol announced that he was going to cook his turkey.

"I'm tired o' fish," he said, "fish fur breakfast, fish fur dinner, an'
fish fur supper. Ef