ause I was tired of tame life. I love the
forest; I want to fish and hunt; and I think I'd like to--to see
Indians."

"I kinder thought so," said the old frontiersman, nodding his head
as though he perfectly understood Joe's case. "Well, lad, where
you're goin' seein' Injuns ain't a matter of choice. You has to see
'em, and fight 'em, too. We've had bad times for years out here on
the border, and I'm thinkin' wuss is comin'. Did ye ever hear the
name Girty?"

"Yes; he's a renegade."

"He's a traitor, and Jim and George Girty, his brothers, are p'isin
rattlesnake Injuns. Simon Girty's bad enough; but Jim's the wust.
He's now wusser'n a full-blooded Delaware. He's all the time on the
lookout to capture white wimen to take to his Injun teepee. Simon
Girty and his pals, McKee and Elliott, deserted from that thar fort
right afore yer eyes. They're now livin' among the redskins down
Fort Henry way, raisin' as much hell fer the settlers as they kin."

"Is Fort Henry near the Indian towns?" asked Joe.

"There's Delawares, Shawnees and Hurons all along the Ohio below
Fort Henry."

"Where is the Moravian Mission located?"

"Why, lad, the Village of Peace, as the Injuns call it, is right in
the midst of that Injun country. I 'spect it's a matter of a hundred
miles below and cross-country a little from Fort Henry."

"The fort must be an important point, is it not?"

"Wal, I guess so. It's the last place on the river," answered Lynn,
with a grim smile. "There's only a stockade there, an' a handful of
men. The Injuns hev swarmed down on it time and ag'in, but they hev
never burned it. Only such men as Colonel Zane, his brother Jack,
and Wetzel could hev kept that fort standin' all these bloody years.
Eb Zane's got but a few men, yet he kin handle 'em some, an' with
such scouts as Jack Zane and Wetzel, he allus knows what's goin' on
among the Injuns."

"I've heard of Colonel Zane. He was an officer under Lord Dunmore.
The hunters here speak often of Jack Zane and Wetzel. What are
they?"

"Jack Zane is a hunter an' guide. I knowed him well a few years
back. He's a quiet, mild chap; but a streak of chain-lightnin' when
he's riled. Wetzel is an Injun-killer. Some people say as how he's
crazy over scalp-huntin'; but I reckon that's not so. I've seen him
a few times. He don't hang round the settlement 'cept when the
Injuns are up, an' nobody sees him much. At home he sets round
silent-like, an' then mebbe next mornin' he'll