yet rose on either
bank, a solid mass of green, in which nothing stirred, and from which no
sound came.

The silence, save for the swish of the paddles, was brooding and full of
menace. Paul, so sensitive to circumstance, felt as if it were a sullen
sky, out of which would suddenly come a blazing flash of lightning. But
to Henry the greatest anxiety was the narrowing of the river which must
come before long. The Ohio was not a mile wide everywhere, and when that
straightening of the stream occurred they would be within rifle shot of
the warriors on one bank or the other. And while the Indians were not
good marksmen, it was true that where there were many bullets not all
missed.

A quarter of an hour passed, and they heard the war-whoop behind them,
and then a few moments later the faint, rhythmic swish of paddles. The
moonlight had been deepening fast, and Henry saw two of the great canoes
appear, although they were yet a full half mile away. But they came on
at a mighty pace, and it was evident that unless bullets stopped them
they would overtake the fugitives. Henry put aside his paddle, leaving
the work for the present to the others, and studied the long canoes. He
and his comrades might strain as they would, but in an hour the big
boats filled with muscular warriors would be alongside. They must devise
some other method to elude the pursuit. A shout from Paul caused him to
turn.

A peninsula from the south projected into the river, making its width at
this point much less than half a mile, and upon the spit, which was
bare, stood several Indian warriors, rifle in hand and waiting.

"Turn the canoe in toward the northern shore," said Henry. "We must
chance a shot from that quarter, dealing with the seen danger, and
letting the unseen go. Sol, you and Tom take your rifles, and I'll take
mine too. Paul, you and Jim do the paddling and we'll see whether those
warriors on the sand stop us, or are just taking a heavy risk
themselves."

The canoe sheered off violently toward the northern bank, but did not
cease to move swiftly, as Paul and Jim alone were able to send it along
at a great rate. Henry, with his rifle lying in the hollow of his arm,
watched a large warrior standing on the edge of the water.

"I'll take the big fellow with the waving scalp lock," he said.

"The short, broad one by the side o' him is mine," said Shif'less Sol.
"Which is yours, Tom?"

"One with red blanket looped over his shoulder," re