and Lyon, who were
on the southern bank, reported that the Indians were still thick in the
forest.

"They see us here on the river," said Thrale, "an' ef we don't keep well
in the middle uv it they kin reach us with thar bullets. But we won't be
able to see the least speck or sign uv them."

Adam Colfax had sighed when he heard these words, and now, as his little
council gathered, it seemed that all predictions of evil were about to
be fulfilled. A smoky red sun had set behind the hills, and the night,
true to the promise of the sun, had come on dark and cloudy. It was not
exactly the cloudiness of rain; it was rather that of heat and
oppressiveness, and it had in it a certain boding quality that weighed
heavily upon the spirits of Adam Colfax.

The boats were anchored in a double row in the exact center of the
stream, swaying just a little with the gentle current. All those
carrying sails had taken them down. Adam Colfax's boat was outside the
two lines, slightly nearer to the southern shore, but still beyond rifle
shot.

While the leader sat in the stern of his boat waiting for the two scouts
who were last to come, he surveyed the fleet with the anxious eyes of
one who carries a great responsibility. In the darkness the boats were
not much more than dark lines on the darker river. Now and then they
were lighted up by flares of heat lightning, but the eyes of Adam Colfax
turned away from them to the banks, those high banks thick with forest
and undergrowth, which contained so many dangers, real dangers, not
those of the imaginary kind, as he had ample proof. Now and then a shot,
apparently as a taunt, was fired from either shore, and two or three
times he heard the long, whining yell which is the most ominous of human
cries. This, too, he knew, was a taunt, but in every case, cunning,
ferocity and power lay behind the taunt, which was another truth that he
knew.

They were all soon gathered on the deck of the little _Independence_,
and the faces of the two scouts who came last were very grave.

"What do you think of it, Lyon?" said Adam Colfax.

Lyon gave his head one brief shake.

"We're right in the middle of the biggest hornet's nest the country ever
saw," he replied. "Looks ez ef we couldn't git past without another
terrible fight."

"And you, Drouillard?" Adam Colfax asked of the Creole.

"Eet ees hard to go on," replied Drouillard in his broken English, "but
we cannot go back at all. So eet ees true