need to sleep, I want the land. I never
feel the land heavin' an' pitchin' under me, an' it gives me more of a
safe an' home feelin'."

"Watch, everybody, for a landing place," said Henry, "and Paul, you
steer."

The green shore began to rise, showing a long unbroken wall of forest,
but the dusk was coming too, and all of them were anxious to make land.
Presently, they were only three or four hundred yards from the coast and
they skimmed rapidly along it, looking for an anchorage. It was full
night before Henry's sharp eyes saw the mouth of a creek almost hidden
by tall grass, and, taking down the sail, they pulled the boat into it.
They tied their craft securely to a tree, and the night passed without
alarm.

They resumed the voyage early the next morning, and that day reached the
southern coast of the lake. Here they reluctantly left the boat. They
might have found a river emptying into the lake down which they could
have gone a hundred or more miles further, but they were not
sufficiently acquainted with this part of the country to spend their
time in hunting for it. They drew their good little craft as far as they
could among the weeds and bushes that grew at the water's edge.

"That's two good boats we've got hid on the water ways," said Shif'less
Sol, "besides a half dozen canoes scattered here an' thar, an' mebbe
we'll find 'em an' use 'em some day."

"This cost us nothin'," said Jim Hart, "so I reckon we ain't got any
right to grieve, 'cause we're givin' up what we never paid fur."

They took out of the boat all the supplies that they could conveniently
carry, and then started toward the southwest. The course to Kentucky now
led through the heart of the Indian country. Between them and the Ohio
lay the great Indian villages of Chillicothe, Piqua and many others, and
the journey in any event would be dangerous. But the presence of the old
schoolmaster was likely to make it more so, since he could not travel
with any approach to the speed and skill of the others. Yet no one
thought, for a moment, of blaming him. They were happy to have rescued
him, and, moreover, he had brought them the good news that Wareville was
untouched by the Bird invasion. Yet speed was vital. The scattered
stations must be warned against the second and greater expedition under
Caldwell and Timmendiquas. Mr. Pennypacker himself perceived the fact
and he urged them to go on and leave him. He felt sure that with a rifle
and plenty of