y from their fright to rally at the
stream. But he felt that in any event he and his comrades must strike.
Blackstaffe, Yellow Panther and Red Eagle with their forces would soon
be in pursuit, and to escape the net would test the skill and courage of
the five to the utmost. Yet all of them believed attack to be the best
plan, and, after their sleep, they resumed the trail with renewed
strength and vigor, pressing northward at great speed through the deep
green wilderness.

CHAPTER IV

THE CAPTURED CANOE

As the five advanced they read the trail with unfailing eye. Henry saw
more than once the traces of footsteps with the toes turned out, that is
those of Braxton Wyatt, and he noticed that they were wavering, not
leading in a straight line like those of the Indians.

"Braxton must have had a nice crack of some kind or other on the head,"
he said, "and he still feels the effects of it, as now and then he
reels."

"'Twould hev been a good thing," said Shif'less Sol, "ef the crack,
whatever it may hev been, hed been a lot harder, hard enough to finish
him. I ain't bloodthirsty, but it would help a lot if Braxton Wyatt wuz
laid away. Paul, you're eddicated, an' you hev done a heap o' thinkin',
enough, I guess, to last a feller like Long Jim fur a half dozen o'
lives, now what makes a man turn renegade an' fight with strangers an'
savages ag'inst his own people?"

"I think," replied Paul, "that it's disappointment, and fancied
grievances. Some people want to be first, and when they can't win the
place they're apt to say the world is against 'em, in a conspiracy, so
to speak, to defraud 'em of what they consider their rights. Then their
whole system gets poisoned through and through, and they're no longer
reasoning human beings. I look upon Braxton Wyatt as in a way a madman,
one poisoned permanently."

"I hev noticed them things, too," said Shif'less Sol. "Thar are diff'unt
kinds o' naturs, the good an' the bad, an' the bad can't bear for other
people to lead 'em. Then they jest natchelly hate an' hate. All through
the day they hate, an' ef they ain't got nothin' to do, even ef the
weather is fine 'nuff to make an old man laugh, they jest spend that
time hatin'. An' ef they happen to wake up at night, do they lay thar
an' think what a fine world it is an' what nice people thar are in it?
No, sir, they jest spend all the time between naps hatin', an' they fall
asleep ag'in, with a hate on thar lips an in' thar