s, there was
no flapping of sail, only the swash of the oars in the water, drowned by
the wind. Since the lightning had ceased, both shores were lost
permanently in the darkness, and the five, who now knew this part of the
river thoroughly, moved up to the head of the line, leading the way.
After them came the _Independence_ and then the fleet in the same double
line formation that it had used before.

"Do you see anything on either side, Henry?" asked Tom Ross, raising his
back from the oar.

"Nothing, Tom," replied Henry, "and it seems strange to me. So great a
chief as Timmendiquas would foresee such an attempt as this of ours, at
such a time."

"We ain't goin' to git through without a fight, rain or no rain, night
or no night," said Shif'less Sol in a tone of finality, and Henry
silently, but in his heart, agreed with him.

They were going so slowly now, to prevent collision or noise, that only
Tom Ross and Long Jim rowed. Henry and Shif'less Sol, near the front of
the boat, leaned forward and tried to pierce the darkness with their
eyes. The rain was beating heavily upon their backs, and they were wet
through and through, but at such a time they did not notice it. Their
rifles and their powder were dry under their buckskin hunting shirts,
and that was sufficient.

Henry and Shif'less Sol near the prow bent forward, and, shielding their
eyes from the rain with their hands, never moved. The blackest darkness
even can be pierced in time by a persistent gaze, and, as the channel of
the river narrowed still further, Henry thought he saw something blacker
upon the black waters. He turned his head a little and met the eyes of
Shif'less Sol.

"Do you see it?" he whispered.

"I see it," replied the shiftless one, "an' I take it to be an Indian
canoe."

"So do I," rejoined Henry, "and I think I can see another to the right
and another to the left."

"Indian sentinels watchin' fur us. The White Lightnin' o' the Wyandots
is ez great a chief ez you said he wuz. He ain't asleep."

"I can see three more canoes now," said Henry as they proceeded further.
"They must have a line of them across the river. Look, they see us,
too!"

They saw an Indian in the canoe nearest them rise suddenly to his knees,
fire a rifle in the air, and utter a long warning whoop, which rose high
above the rush of the rain. All the Indian canoes disappeared almost
instantly, as if they had been swallowed up in the black water. But
Henry and