foot of the slope and were
all ready to break from cover.

In our favor was the Granville cabin, which would shelter us from the
ridge for a bit of the perilous way. Already it was possible, I decided,
to crawl the distance without being detected by the enemy across the
valley. Cousin refused to run the risk, and argued.

"Every minute gained now gives us that much more of a chance. The Injuns
out front ain't all across the valley any more. They begun creepin' into
the clearin' the minute it begun growin' dark. Reckon it's time they
l'arned who's cooped up in here, so's they won't git too bold."

He removed the bar of the door and through the crevice sounded his
terrible war-cry, the scream of a panther. It stabbed the dusk with
ear-splitting intensity.

"There! They'll stop an' count a dozen afore gittin' too close," he
muttered as he softly replaced the bar. "They'll lay mighty low an' won't
bother to do much but watch the door. I 'low it'll be hard work to crawl
out without they guessin' somethin's wrong."

"Then let's rip up the floor and dig a hole under the logs," I suggested.

"We'll do that," he quietly agreed.

As cautiously as possible we removed several of the puncheon slabs next to
the wall. The base logs were huge fellows and held the floor several feet
from the ground. To excavate a hole under either of the four would have
required more time than we believed we had to spare. Our plan threatened
to be hopeless until Cousin explored the length of the log with his
fingers and gave a little cry of delight. He found a hole already dug near
the front end of the cabin. It had been the work of the dog. Working with
our hunting-knives we loosened the dirt and pawed it behind us and made it
larger. At last Cousin pressed me back and ducked his head and shoulders
into the hole. Then he drew back and whispered:

"I can git my head an' shoulders through. 'low I could squirm out o' hell
if I could git my shoulders through. I'll go ahead an' you pass out the
rifles. Ready?"

I pressed his hand. There followed a few moments of waiting, then a
handful of dirt fell into the hole and informed me my companion had
squeezed clear of the log and that the ultimate test was to be faced. I
passed the rifles, butts first, and felt them gently removed from my
grasp. Working noiselessly as possible I soon squirmed out into the
refreshing evening air and lay motionless. Cousin was ahead and already
worming his way toward the