was no relaxation of
his vigilance. It was he who first heard the slight swishing sound of
the bushes on the far side of the Council House; it was he who first
heard the light tread of an approaching moccasin, and it was he who
first saw the ugly harelipped face of a white man appear at the forest
edge. Then all saw, and slow, cold anger rose in five breasts at the
treacherous trick.

Behind the harelipped man appeared Perley and Fowler, and six savage
warriors, armed fully, and coated thickly with war paint. Now Henry knew
that the sinister effect of Holdsworth's face was not due wholly to his
harelip, and the ugliness of all his features. He was glad in a way
because he had not done the man injustice.

The three white men and the six Indians waited a long time at the edge
of the woods. They were using both eye and ear to tell if the five in
the old Council House slept soundly. The fire now gave forth nothing but
smoke, and they could not see clearly into the depths. They must come
nearer if they would make sure of their victims. They advanced slowly
across the open, their weapons ready. All the idealist was gone from
Henry now. They had taken these three men into what was then their
house; they had been warmed and dried by their fire, and now they came
back to kill. He watched them slip across the open space, and he saw in
the moonlight that their faces were murderous, the white as bad as the
red.

The band reached the end of the Council House and looked in, uttering
low cries of disappointment when they saw nothing there. None of the
five ever knew whether they had waited there for the purpose of giving
battle to the raiding band, but at this moment Paul moved a little in
order to get a better view, and a bush rustled under his incautious
moccasin. One of the savages heard it, gave a warning cry, and in an
instant the whole party threw themselves flat upon the earth, with the
wall of the Council House between themselves and that point in the
forest from which the sound had come. Silence and invisibility followed,
yet the forest battle was on.

CHAPTER VII

THE TAKING OF HENRY

"I'm sorry my foot slipped," whispered Paul.

"Don't you worry, Paul," Henry whispered back. "We're as anxious to meet
them as they are to meet us. If they are willing to stay and have the
argument out, we're willing to give them something to think about."

"An' I'd like to get a shot at that harelipped villain," interjected