te himself, he
laughed. The water had washed most of the paint off the face of the
shiftless one, leaving only stripes and bars.

"Sol," he said, "you're the best and smartest friend a man ever had, but
just now you don't look like either an Indian or a white man."

"O' course not," replied Shif'less Sol readily, "an' fur the minute I
ain't either. I'm a water dog, trampin' 'roun' in the Detroit River, an'
enjoyin' myself. Ain't you happy, too, Henry?"

"I was never more so in my life," replied Henry emphatically, "and I can
say, too, that this is about the finest swim I ever took. Are the others
all right, Sol?"

"They shorely are. They're settin' over thar in the bushes waitin' for
our boy Henry, who hez been out late, to come back home. I reckon, too,
that they've seen everything that hez happened, includin' that
everlastin' mighty big jump o' yourn."

"When a fellow jumps for his life he is apt to jump well," said Henry.

"I know I would," said Shif'less Sol. "Look, Henry, we're goin' to be
pursued."

Henry glanced back toward the palisade, and saw troops and Indians at
the water's edge, jumping into two boats. The Indians were especially
quick, and, in a few moments, a boat under the influence of many
paddles, shot far out into the stream. The Detroit is a wide river, and
Henry glanced anxiously at the farther shore. Shif'less Sol noticed the
look and he said:

"Tom an' Jim an' Paul haven't forgot how to shoot. Besides, my rifle is
lyin' in the canoe, an' ez them fellers are comin' within range I think
I'll give 'em a hint."

Henry held the boat steady with one hand and maintained their diagonal
course toward the farther shore. Sol lifted his rifle from the canoe,
and holding it across the gunwale with a single arm took aim and fired.
One of the paddlers in the pursuing boat sprang up convulsively, then
fell over the side and disappeared. But the boat came steadily on, the
paddlers probably knowing that it would be a matter of great difficulty
for the marksman to reload while in the water. The second boat
containing the soldiers was also now coming fast.

But the shiftless one made no attempt to reload. He took another look at
the Canadian shore and said to Henry:

"Both o' them boats will soon be in the range o' three fellers who are
settin' on somethin' that don't move, an' who won't miss when they
shoot."

He put his unloaded rifle back in the canoe, and the two, still keeping
the little boat bet