ntinued its slow climb toward the zenith and Paul, looking up
through the canes, thought he had never seen a finer day. Then he
remembered something.

"I suggest that we don't move today," he said. "They won't approach the
hollow until night anyway, and it wouldn't hurt for us to lie here in
the shelter of the brake and rest until dark."

Henry looked at him in surprise.

"Your idea is sudden and I don't understand it," he said.

"So it is, Henry, but it never occurred to me until a moment ago that
this was Sunday. We haven't observed Sunday in a long time, and now is
our chance. We can't wholly forget our training."

He spoke almost with apology, but the leader did not upbraid him.
Instead, he looked at the others and found agreement in their eyes.

"Paul talks in a cur'ous manner an' has cur'ous notions sometimes," said
Shif'less Sol, "but I don't say they ain't good. It's a long time since
we've paid any 'tention to Sunday, but the idee sticks in my mind. Mebbe
it would be a good way fur us to start our big fight ag'inst the tribes
an' the renegades."

"When Cromwell and his Ironsides advanced against the Royalists," said
Paul, "they knelt down and prayed first on the very field of battle.
Then they advanced with their pikes in a solid line, and nothing was
ever able to stand before them."

"Then we'll keep Sunday," said Henry decisively.

Paul, feeling a thrill of satisfaction, lay back on his blanket. The
idea that they should observe Sunday, that it would be a good omen and
beginning, had taken hold of him with singular power. His character was
devout and a life in the wilderness among its mighty manifestations
deepened its quality. Like the Indian he wanted the spirits of earth and
air on his side.

The five had acquired the power of silence and to rest intensely when
nothing was to be done. Their food finished, they lay back against their
doubled blankets in a calm and peace that was deep and enduring. It was
not necessary to go to the edge of the canebrake, as in the brilliant
light of the day they might be noticed there, and, where they lay, they
could see anyone who came long before he arrived.

Paul, as he breathed, absorbed belief and confidence in their success.
Surely so bright a sky bending over them was a good omen! and the tall
canes themselves, as they bent before the wind, whispered to him that
all would be well. Henry in his own way was no less imaginative than his
young comrade. He let