Shif'less Sol has put
it right. We'll be honored as men were never honored before in this
wilderness. At least a thousand warriors, brave and skillful men, all,
will be hunting us, two hundred to one and maybe more."

"And while they're hunting us," said Paul, his eyes glistening, "we'll
draw 'em off from the settlements, and we'll be serving our people just
as much as we did when we were destroying the big guns, and filling the
warriors with superstitious alarm."

"True in every word," said Henry, his soul rising for the contest. "Let
'em come on and we'll lead 'em such a chase that their feet will be worn
to the bone, and their minds will be full of despair!"

"You put it right," said the shiftless one. "I think I'll enjoy bein' a
fox fur awhile. The forest is full o' holes an' dens, an' when they dig
me out o' one I'll be off fur another."

"We know the wilderness as well as they do," said Henry, "and we can use
as many tricks as they can. Now, since they're spreading a great net, we
must take the proper steps to evade it. Having besieged our refuge here
once, they'll naturally look again for us in this place. If they catch
us inside they'll sit outside until they starve us to death."

"Which means," said Paul regretfully, "that we must leave our nice dry
home."

"So it does, but not, I think, before tomorrow morning, and we'll use
the hours meanwhile to good advantage. We must begin at once molding
into bullets the lead that Sol and Tom brought."

Every one of the five carried with him that necessary implement in the
wilderness, a bullet mold, and they began the task immediately, all save
Henry, who went outside, despite the fierce rain, and scouted a bit
among the bushes and trees. The four made bullets fast, melting the
lead in a ladle that Jim carried, pouring it into the molds, and then
dropping the shining and deadly pellets one by one into their pouches.
Three of them talked as they worked, but Silent Tom did not speak for a
full hour. Then he said:

"We'll have five hundred apiece."

Shif'less Sol looked at him reprovingly.

"Tom," he said, "I predicted a while ago that the time wuz soon comin'
when you'd talk us to death. You used five words then, when you know
your 'lowance is only one an hour."

Tom Ross flushed under his tan. He hated, above all things, to be
garrulous. "Sorry," he muttered, and continued his work with renewed
energy and speed. The bullets seemed to drop in a shining stream f