ink to not much more than a
long walk, wishing to recover his full physical powers. His spirit of
elation remained. In very truth, he was enjoying himself, and he felt
that he could lead them on forever. He was even able to note the
character of the country as he passed, the numerous brooks, the splendor
of the forest, the brown leaves as they fell before the light wind, and
then a great patch of early blackberries hanging ripe and rich. He
paused a moment or two, long enough to gather many of the berries and
eat them, noting that they were the juiciest and best he could recall to
have tasted.

Then he came into a country that the animal kingdom seemed to have made
its own. He could not remember having seen anywhere else such an
abundance of game. Buffaloes, puffing and snorting, ran to one side as
he crossed the little prairies. Deer, some big and some little, sped
away through the thickets. Bears, hidden in their coverts, gazed at him
with curious eyes. Rabbits leaped away in the grass, squirrels ran in
alarm out on the farthest boughs, and flocks of wild fowl rose with a
whirr and a rush.

Henry was so sure of himself, so sure he could not be overtaken, that he
noted the character of this country which seemed to be so much favored
by the creatures of earth and air. Some time, when all their present
dangers were over, he and his comrades would come back there and have a
pleasant and peaceful hunt. Doubtless it had been neglected a long time
by the Indians, who were in the habit of using a region for a season or
two and then of letting it lie fallow until the wild animals should
forget and come back again.

He ascended a hill larger and higher than the others, and bare, being
mostly a stony outcrop. Here he sat down in the shadow of a ledge and
took long breaths. He felt that the pursuit was then fully a mile
behind, and he could afford to stop for a little while. From the lofty
summit he saw a great distance. Toward the southwest was where the swamp
lay, but, despite the height, it was invisible now. Behind him was the
deep forest through which his pursuers were coming, to the north lay the
same forest, but to the east he caught a shimmer of blue through the
browning leaves. It was so faint that at first he was not certain of its
nature, but a second look told him it was one of the little lakes often
to be found in the country north of the Ohio.

His flight, as he was making it, would take him straight against tha