he failed hit wuz death shore-nuff, for
nothin' makes a Injun so pizen mad ez fer anybody ter be treated nice by
'em an' then try ter get away. The Redskins wuz all sleepin' round the
fire. They wuz used ter jumpin' in the middle o' the night or any
minute. Mebbe they wuz all ersleep, an' mebbe they wasn't.

"Old Dan'l he pertended ter be sleepin' the sleep er the dead, an' I
tell ye he riz mighty keerful, shuck Stuart easy, waked him up an'
motioned him ter foller. Talk about sneakin' up on a wild duck er a
turkey--ole Dan'l done some slick business gettin' away frum that fire!
Man, ef they'd rustled a leaf er broke a twig, them savages would a all
been up an' on 'em in a minute. Holdin' tight to their guns--you kin bet
they didn't leave them--and a steppin' light ez feathers they crept away
from the fire an' out into the deep dark o' the woods. They stopped an'
stood as still ez death an' watched till they see the Injuns hadn't
waked----"

The pioneer paused and his white teeth shone through his black beard as
he cocked his shaggy head to one side and looked into the Boy's wide
eyes.

"And then what do you reckon Dan'l Boone done, sir?"

"What?"

"Waal, ye seed the way them bees made fer their trees, didn't ye, when
they got a load er honey?"

"Yes, that's the way I found their home."

"But you had the daylight, mind ye! And Dan'l was in pitch black night,
but, sir, he made a bee-line through them dark woods straight for his
camp he'd left seven days afore. And, man, yer kin bet they made tracks
when they got clear o' the Redskins! Hit wuz six hours till day an' when
the Injuns waked they didn't know which way ter look----"

Tom paused and the Boy cried eagerly:

"Did they get there?"

"Git whar?" the father asked dreamily.

"Get back to their own camp?"

"Straight ez a bee-line I tell ye. But the camp had been busted and
robbed and the other men wuz gone."

"Gone where?"

Tom shook his shaggy head.

"Nobody never knowed ter this day--reckon the Injuns scalped 'em----"

He paused again and a dreamy look overspread his rugged face.

"Like they scalped your own grandpa that day."

"Did they scalp my grandpa?" the Boy asked in an awed whisper.

"That they did. Your Uncle Mordecai an' me was workin' with him in the
new ground, cleanin' it fur corn when all of a sudden the Injuns riz
right up outen the ground. Your grandpa drapped dead the fust shot, an'
Mordecai flew ter the cabin fer the rifle.