said Wyatt, "and we may catch a mouse or two
in our trap."

He gave another signal and the Shawnees turned the boat about,
permitting it to float back with the stream, but as Early had suggested,
keeping it in the shadow. Despite his experience and the lack of proof
that anyone else was near, Wyatt's heart began to beat fast. Suppose
the game was really there, and it should prove to be of the kind that he
wanted most to take! This would be indeed a triumph worth while, and he
would neglect no precaution to achieve it. They had gone back about a
mile now, and he signaled to the warriors to swing the boat yet a little
closer to the bank. He still heard no sound, but the belief was once
more strong upon him that the quarry was there. They drifted slowly and
yet there was nothing. His eye alighted upon a great mass of bushes
growing in the shallow water at the edge of the river. He told the
paddlers to push the boat among them until it should be completely
hidden and then he waited.

But time passed and nothing came. The sun dropped lower. The yellow
light on the water turned to red, and the forest flamed under the
setting sun. A light breeze sprang up and the foliage rustled under its
touch. Braxton Wyatt, from his covert among the bushes, watched with
anger gnawing at his heart. He had been wrong or whoever it was that
followed had been too wary. He was crafty and had laid his trap well,
but others were crafty, too, and would turn from the door of an open
trap.

The sun sank further. The red in the west deepened but gray shadows were
creeping over the east and the surface of the river began to darken.
Nothing had come. Nothing was coming. Braxton Wyatt said reluctantly to
himself that his instinct had been wrong. He gave the word to pull the
boat from the canes, and to proceed up the stream again. He was annoyed.
He had laid a useless trap and he had made himself look cheap before the
Indians. So he said nothing for a long time, but allowed his anger to
simmer. When it was fully dark they tied up the boat and camped on
shore, in the bushes near the water.

Wyatt was too cautious to permit a fire, and they ate cold food in the
darkness. After a while, all slept but two of the Shawnees who kept
watch. Wyatt's slumbers were uneasy. About midnight he awoke, and he was
oppressed by the same presentiment that had made him turn back the boat.
He heard nothing and saw nothing save his own men, but his instinct was
at work on