rounds, and they think they must all strike together
now, and strike hard. We've spied upon several of their villages, and we
know. Some renegades are with them, pointing the way, and among them is
Braxton Wyatt, the most venomous of them all. I don't see how one who is
born white can do such a thing."

But Paul had read books, and his mind was always leaping forward to new
knowledge.

"It is the bad blood of some far-off ancestor showing," he said. "It is
what they call a reversion. You know, Henry, that Braxton was always mean
and sulky. I never saw anybody else so spiteful and jealous as he is, and
maybe he thinks he will be a big man among the Indians."

"That's so," said Henry. "I can understand why anybody should love a life
in the forest. Ah, it's such a glorious thing!"

He expanded his chest, and the light leaping into his eyes told that Henry
Ware was living the life he loved.

"But," he added, "I can't see how anybody could ever turn against his own
people."

"It's moral perversity," said Paul.

"Moral perversity," said Jim Hart, stumbling over the syllables. "Them
words sound mighty big, Paul. Would you mind tellin' us what they mean?"

"They mean, Jim," put in Shif'less Sol, "that you won't be what you ought
to be, an' that you won't, all the time."

"That's a good enough explanation," laughed Paul.

"Whatever is the reason," said Tom Ross, who used words as rarely as if
they were precious jewels, "the tribes are comin' together to destroy the
white settlements. Braxton is givin' them all kinds uv useful information,
an' we've got to hinder these doin's, ef we kin."

The others agreed once more, and talked further of the new league. They
did not go into much detail about their adventures while spying on the
villages, rather looking now to the future.

"I told you, Paul, we ought to a-put a knife in that Braxton Wyatt when we
had the chance," growled Shif'less Sol.

"I couldn't do it, Sol," replied Paul.

Later they held a conference beside a bed of coals that threw out no
smoke, and Paul listened with absorbed attention while Henry stated the
case fully.

"The Shawnees were somewhat daunted by their repulse at Wareville last
year," he said, "but they hope yet to crush the white settlement before we
grow too strong. They are seeking to draw the Miamis, Wyandottes, and all
the other tribes up here into a league for that purpose, and they want to
have it formed and strike while our people are