houlders and returned to his cooking, his tall, lean
form bent over like a hoop. Paul slept peacefully on the blanket, but the
others talked much and earnestly. Henry, as he ate of the buffalo meat,
told them all that had happened to him and Paul in that brief period which
yet looked so long. That the band would pick up the trail, daylight now
come, and follow on, he did not doubt. There he stopped, and left the
conclusion to the others. Shif'less Sol was the first to speak.

"This gang," he said, "come out to hunt buffalo, an', accordin' to what
Henry says, a war party--he don't know how big--is comin' this way huntin'
him an' Paul. Well, ef it keeps on huntin' him an' Paul, it's bound to run
up agin us, because Paul an' Henry are now a part o' our gang. Ez fur me,
I've done a lot o' trampin' after buffalo, an' I feel too tired to run, I
jest do."

"I ain't seen no better place for cookin' than this," said Jim Hart,
undoubling himself, "an' I like the looks o' the country round here
pow'ful well. I'd hate to leave it before I got ready,"

"'Tain't healthy to run afore you're ready," said Ike Stebbins, a short,
extremely thick man. "It ain't good for the stomach. Pumps the blood right
up to the heart, an' I ain't feelin' very good just now, noway. Can't
afford to take no more risks to my health."

A slight smile passed over the stern, bronzed face of Tom Ross.

"I expected to hear you talk that way, boys," he said, "it's in your
blood; but thar's a better reason still for our not goin'. If this war
band stays around here, it'll be pickin' off settlers, an' it's fur us to
stop it. Now, them Shawnees are comin' a-huntin' us. I jest wish to say
that we don't mean to be the hunted; we're to be the hunters ourselves."

Sharp exclamations of approval broke from all these fierce spirits of the
border. But the deepest and most dangerous gleam of all was in the eyes of
Henry Ware. All his primeval instincts were alive, and foremost among them
was the desire to fight. He was tired of running, of seeking to escape,
and his warlike blood was up and leaping. Two more men who had been out
ranging the woods for buffalo, or any other worthy game that might happen
in their way, came in presently, and the little army, with the addition
of the two boys, was now raised to the number of ten. And a real little
army it was, fortified with indomitable hearts and all the skill and
knowledge of the wilderness.

When Paul awoke beneath the