ook turns at sleeping, but it was not necessary now to use the
oars. The wind was still strong, and the sail carried them at great
speed down the river. They felt safe and comfortable, but it was a wild
and weird scene upon which they looked. The banks of the Ohio here were
high and clothed in dense forest which, in the glare of the lightning,
looked like gigantic black walls on either shore. The surface of the
river itself was tinted under the blaze as if with fire, and often it
ran in red waves before the wind. The darkness was intense, but the
flashes of lightning were so vivid that they easily saw their way.

"We're going back on our old path now, Paul," said Henry. "You remember
how we came up the river with Adam Colfax, fought the fleet of
Timmendiquas, and helped save the fort?"

"I couldn't well forget it," replied Paul. "Why, I can see it all again,
just as if it happened only yesterday, but I'm mighty glad that
Timmendiquas is not here now with a fleet."

"Will we tie up to the bank by day as we did on the other river?" asked
Mr. Pennypacker.

"Not on the Ohio," replied Henry. "As white immigrants are now coming
down it, Indians infest both shores, so we'll keep straight ahead in the
middle of the stream. We may be attacked there, but perhaps we can
either whip or get away from anything that the Indians now have on the
river."

While they talked Shif'less Sol looked carefully to their armament. He
saw that all the extra rifles and pistols were loaded and that they lay
handy. But he had little to say and the others, after the plan had been
arranged, were silent. The wind became irregular. Now and then gusts of
it lashed the surface of the giant stream, but toward morning it settled
into a fair breeze. The thunder and lightning ceased by that time, and
there was promise of a good day.

The promise was fulfilled and they floated peacefully on until
afternoon. Then shots were fired at them from the northern bank, but the
bullets spattered the water a full fifty yards short. Henry and Sol, who
had the keenest eyes, could make out the outlines of Indians on the
shore, but they were not troubled.

"I'm sure it's just a small hunting party," said Henry, "and they can do
us no harm. Their bullets can't reach us, and you can't run along the
banks of a great river and keep up with a boat in the stream."

"That's true," said Shif'less Sol, "an' I think I'll tell 'em so. I
always like to hurt the feelin's of a blo