heart beat a little
faster when they saw the low outline of a wooden island rising from the
bosom of the Ohio.

"According to all we've heard," said Henry, "that should be the place."

"It shorely is," said Shif'less Sol, "an' besides I see smoke risin'
among them trees."

"Yes, and I see smoke rising on the southern shore also," said Henry.

"Which may mean that they've made a second settlement, one on the
mainland," said Paul.

As they drew nearer Henry sent a long quavering cry, the halloo of the
woodsman, across the waters, and an answering cry came from the edge of
the island. Then a boat containing two white men, clad in deerskin, put
out and approached the five cautiously. Henry and Paul stood up to show
that they were white and friends, and the boat then came swiftly.

"Who are you?" called one of the men.

Henry replied, giving their identity briefly, and the man said:

"My name is Charles Curd, and this is Henry Palmer. We live at
Louisville and we are on the watch for friends and enemies alike. We're
glad to know that you're the former."

They escorted the five back to the island, and curious people came down
to the beach to see the forest runners land. Henry and his comrades for
their part were no less curious and soon they were inspecting this
little settlement which for protection had been cast in a spot
surrounded by the waters of the Ohio. They saw Corn Island, a low
stretch of soil, somewhat sandy but originally covered with heavy
forest, now partly cleared away. Yet the ax had left sycamores ten feet
through and one hundred feet high.

The whole area of the island was only forty-three acres, but it already
contained several fields in which fine corn and pumpkins were raised. On
a slight rise was built the blockhouse in the form of an Egyptian cross,
the blockhouse proper forming the body of the cross, while the cabins of
the settlers constituted the arms. In addition to the sycamores, great
cottonwoods had grown here, but nearly all of them had been cut down,
and then had been split into rails and boards. Back of the field and at
the western edge of the river, was a magnificent growth of cane, rising
to a height of more than twenty feet.

This little settlement, destined to be one of the great cities of the
West, had been founded by George Rogers Clark only two or three years
before, and he had founded it in spite of himself. Starting from
Redstone on the Monongahela with one hundred and f