k don't often kill."

"I figger," said Tom Ross, "that he waded up this little creek that
comes down here, and turns off to the south. It would be the thing that
any man would naterally do to hide his trail."

"We'll jest go along it," said Shif'less Sol, "rememberin' that Jim is
pow'ful long legged an' ef he took a notion would step out o' the water
an' up a cliff ten feet high."

They followed the creek nearly a mile, but did not see any place at
which a man would be likely to emerge. It was a swift stream coming down
from a mass of high hills, the blue outline of which they saw three or
four miles ahead of them.

"It's my belief," said Henry, pointing to the blue hills, "that Jim's in
there."

"It's pow'ful likely," said Shif'less Sol. "Injuns tryin' to take a fort
an' a fleet ain't likely to bother about a pile o' hills layin' out o'
their path. They go fur what they want."

"Best place fur him," said Tom Ross.

They now left the bed of the stream and advanced swiftly toward the
hills, which turned from blue to green as they came nearer. They were
high and stony, but clothed densely in dark forest. The shiftless one
had truly said that Indians on the war path, seeking the greatest prizes
that had ever come within their reach, would not bother about a patch of
such isolated and difficult country.

It was a long walk through the forest, but the day was come, and the air
made for briskness and elasticity. They searched occasionally by the
side of the brook for a footstep preserved in mud, or any other sign
that Long Jim had passed, but they found nothing. Nevertheless, they
still felt sure of their original opinion. Jim would have lain in the
bush through the night, and to make for the hills when he saw them in
the morning was the most natural thing to do.

When they came finally to the hills, they found them exceedingly steep,
jagged masses, thrown together in the wildest fashion.

"Ef we don't find Long Jim in here," said Shif'less Sol, "then I'm a
mighty bad guesser."

They sought everywhere for a trail but found none, and at last, crossing
a sharp crest of rock, they saw before them a little valley completely
hidden by cliff and forest from any but the closest observer. They began
the descent of the slope, passing among trees and thick bushes, and
Henry, who was in the lead, suddenly stopped and, smiling broadly,
pointed straight ahead.

"If that isn't the stamp and seal of Long Jim, then I'm blind,"