rts, long after the
night had passed. Braxton Wyatt would be the first to recover from it,
and Henry smiled at the thought of his rage when he should not be able
to persuade the Shawnees that evil spirits, sent by Manitou, had not
driven them from the valley. Their second defeat at the same place, and
this time by invisible forces, would persuade them they must never
return to the attack on the hollow.

Henry dropped the pursuit for the present, knowing that it was time to
reunite his own forces, and he sent forth the cry of the wolf that the
five, in common with the Indians, used so much. No reply and he repeated
it a second and yet a third time before the answer came. Then it was in
the south and it was very faint, but he had no doubt it was the voice of
Shif'less Sol. Call and reply went on for a little while, and then,
after a long wait, he saw the figures of the four appearing among the
trees, the shiftless one leading.

The greeting was not effusive, but joyful. Henry told them in rapid
words, tense and brief, all that had occurred the night before, and the
shoulders of the four shook with silent laughter.

"You certainly scared them good, Henry," said Paul.

"I was helped a lot by circumstances."

"But you used the chances when they came."

"Where did you four hide when the storm broke?"

"We took refuge under the matted trees and boughs of a huge old windrow.
It wasn't like the hollow, and some water came through, but on the
whole we did fairly well, and soon dried out thoroughly this morning. We
were mighty glad to hear your call, but we hardly hoped you would
achieve as much as you did."

"An' havin' routed the first band that came ag'inst us," said Long Jim,
"what do you 'low we ought to do next?"

"We've broken only a piece of the iron ring they're forging about us,
and they'll soon mend that piece. It's a good thing to hit first at
those you see are trying to hit at you, and so I think we ought to
follow up the success fortune has given us."

"An' it 'pears we kin do that best by keepin' right on the trail o'
Braxton Wyatt an' his band," said Shif'less Sol.

"That's the way I see it," said Henry. "How do you feel about it, Tom?"

"Right plan," replied Ross.

Shif'less Sol fixed upon him such a look of stern reproof that Silent
Tom reddened once more under his tan.

"Here you go gettin' volyble ag'in," said the shiftless one. "You used
two words then, Tom Ross, when, ef you'd thought an' hun