children were huddled. Evidently this was the chief point of
retreat, and creeping as near as they could, they saw Timmendiquas,
Moluntha, Girty and Braxton Wyatt passing about the camp.

The three lay close in the bushes and they observed Wyatt intently. Two
or three times he passed between them and a camp fire, and they studied
his face.

"Doesn't look like that of one who has lost," whispered Henry.

"No, it don't," said Shif'less Sol. "O' course he don't mourn much about
the Indians, an' I reckon he's got somethin' to make him happy."

"And what he's got is Paul an' Jim," said Tom Ross.

"No doubt you're right," said Henry. "I think it likely that they were
trapped by a band under Braxton Wyatt, and that they are his especial
prisoners. Look! There they are now, by the tree!"

Some shifting of the Indians gave a distant view of the two prisoners
bound securely and leaning against a tree. Wyatt passed by, and looked
upon them with an air of possession. They were sure now that it was he
who had taken them, and, drawing further back into the forest, they
waited patiently for the next move in the great game of life and death.

Indian scouts several times passed within a few yards of them, but they
knew that the minds of these men were upon the army not upon them. They
were scouting to see whether Clark would follow them into the forest
and, when they became certain about noon that he would not do so, they
gathered their own numbers together and started northward to the
villages of their brethren.

Henry, Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross followed closely enough to know what
was going on, but not so closely that they would walk into a trap.
Fortunately the country was heavily wooded with evergreen and there was
still an abundance of leaves on the trees. Fortified by such a long
experience as theirs it was not difficult to keep under cover, and when
the tribes went into camp that night, the three pursuers were not a
quarter of a mile away.

The three hung around the camp half the night, but they saw no chance to
rescue their comrades. The crowd about them was too great. They followed
in the same way the next day, and continued thus a week. Henry began to
feel sure now that Paul and Jim were in no immediate danger of death,
and he ascribed the fact to the influence of Timmendiquas. Even if they
were Wyatt's own prisoners, he would not dare to go directly contrary to
the wishes of the great Wyandot chieftain.

Now a cha