e quickly came when Kenton paused in his blind
pursuit, convinced that the craft was irrecoverably gone.

"I'll be hanged if that varmint ain't a sharp one!" he muttered, with a
feeling akin to admiration at the performance. "It ain't the first time
Sim Kenton has been outwitted by his people, but it's the first time he
had it played on him in that style."

It was a serious blow to the scheme which the pioneer had formed for the
deliverance of his friends; for, as will be seen, it destroyed all
chance of transporting the women and children to the Ohio shore in the
canoe that had accompanied the flatboat a part of the way down the
river.

The roughness of the water under the high, steady wind might well cause
the men to hesitate over the other plan that had been spoken of--that of
swimming the stream and bearing the women and children with them. The
project of constructing a raft upon which to float them over was open to
the fatal objection that the watchful Shawanoes were absolutely certain
to discover it, and discovery could mean but one thing--not only those
on the raft, but the men who might be swimming in the water, would be so
utterly at the mercy of their enemies in their canoes that it would be
but play to pick off every man, woman, and child.

Only one shadowy hope remained--the second canoe, which he hoped to find
at the point where he had hidden it some weeks before, close to
Rattlesnake Gulch. If that had remained undetected by the Indians, it
could take the place of the one he had just lost.

Pushing out in the gloom, Kenton, with one at least of the rangers to
bear him company, need have little personal fear, even if discovered by
the Shawanoes; for they could drive the boat as fast over the water as
could the most skilful of pursuers, and the gloom or woods of the Ohio
shore once reached, all danger to them would vanish. But dare lie hope
that such an opportunity would be presented to him? It would seem, that
with their dusky enemies everywhere, some of them were certain to
stumble upon the boat, though if they did so, it would be accident
rather than design.

There was only one way, however, of settling the matter; that was to
learn whether the boat was where it had been left or where he hoped to
find it.

Kenton pushed along the shore with a haste which at times approached
recklessness; but, as he drew near Rattlesnake Gulch, he called into
play his usual caution, even with the wind and darkness