's many a tired man in that lot now. I think some o' 'em didn't hit
the ice an' snow more'n twice between here an' the lan'."

"Paul's made the islan' ez safe fur us ez a stone fort ez long ez we want
to stay," said Tom Ross.

"It was a great plan, well done," said Henry.

Paul's face shone with the most intense delight. His imagination, leaping
forward to meet a crisis, had served them all greatly, and he was happy.
He had fought not with rifle and knife, but with the weapon of the
intellect.

"Now that this job is over, an' we're the big winners," said Shif'less
Sol, "I'm goin' to do what a tired man ought to do: go to sleep, wrapped
up in buffalo robes, an' sleep about forty hours."

"We'll all sleep," said Henry. "As Tom says, we're as safe as if we were
in a stone fort, and we don't need any guard."

An hour later all of the valiant five were slumbering peacefully within
their warm walls, and when they ate a good hot breakfast the next morning,
cooked in Jim Hart's best fashion, they laughed heartily and often over
the night's great event.

"I guess Mr. Braxton Wyatt will hev to work hard ag'in to prove to them
savages that he's real smart," said Shif'less Sol. "This is another time
that he's led 'em right out o' the little end o' the horn."

They luxuriated that day, resting most of the time In the hut, but on the
following day Henry and Ross went on a longer scouting expedition than
usual, this time in the direction of the Shawnee villages. The three who
were left behind broke fresh holes in the thick ice, and by the use of
much patience succeeded in catching several fine fish, which made a
pleasant addition to their daily diet.

Henry and Ross were gone nearly a week, but their comrades did not become
alarmed over their long absence. When they returned they brought with them
a budget of news from the Shawnee villages. Braxton Wyatt had returned to
the Shawnees, much disgusted with his stay among the Miamis, but still
resolved to form the great Indian alliance, and send it in the spring
against the white settlements in Kentucky.

"It's too late for them to do anything this winter," said Henry, and a
little exultation showed in his tone, "we've put that spoke in their
wheel; but they mean to hit us a terrible blow on the flank when warm
weather comes."

"What do you mean by 'on the flank'?" asked Paul.

"They've learned in some manner, maybe by way of Canada, that a big wagon
train is coming up throu