nd stepping forward he took the
hand of the great hunter, explorer, and wilderness fighter. It was an
impulse which did not seem strange to him that he should leave Major
Braithwaite for second place, and it seemed natural, also, to the Major,
who did not know until then the name of the man who had come so
opportunely with his friends to his relief.

"I knew Fort Prescott was pushed hard and would be pushed harder," said
Daniel Boone, smiling gently after he had shaken hands with Adam Colfax
and Major Braithwaite, "so me an' Simon--this is Simon Kenton--hurried
south after some of our friends, hunters an' sech like, an' it 'pears
that we've got back in time."

"You certainly have," said Major Braithwaite with deep emphasis. "Never
was help more opportune."

"It was a good fight!" exclaimed Simon Kenton, the battle fire not yet
dead in his eyes.

Daniel Boone smiled again, that extraordinary smile of sweetness and
peace.

"But the one that really brought us all together at the right minute,"
he said, "was a boy, though he is a mighty big and strong one, and he
stands here right now."

He put his hand upon Henry Ware's shoulder, and Henry blushed under his
tan in embarrassment.

"No, no!" he cried. "It was everybody working together, and I'm just one
of the crowd."

He retreated hastily behind his comrades, and Daniel Boone laughed.

"Don't you think that we'd better go into the fort now, Mr. Boone?"
asked Adam Colfax with deference.

"Yes, as soon as we can," replied Daniel Boone, "but we ought to keep a
strong line down to the fleet. We can do it with a chain of men. We are
not out of the woods yet. We might be, if a common man led the Indians,
but Timmendiquas, Timmendiquas the Great, the White Lightning of the
Wyandots, is out there, and he does not know what it is to be beat."

"He surely must be a mighty chief," said Major Braithwaite--the way in
which everybody spoke of Timmendiquas impressed him. "But come, we will
enter the fort."

He led the way, and the triple force, now united, followed close behind.
Paul's eyes were chiefly for the hunters who had come with Boone and
Kenton, and he read their minds--they did not regard what they were
doing as an act of benevolence, one for which they could claim a great
reward; they were doing, instead, what they loved to do, and they were
grateful for the chance. It was the wildest looking band of white men
that he had ever seen, but it was worth a regiment t