CHAPTER I

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THE EYES OF THE WOODS

* * * * *

By JOSEPH A. ALTSHELER

THE CIVIL WAR SERIES

The Guns of Bull Run

The Guns of Shiloh

The Scouts of Stonewall

The Sword of Antietam

The Star of Gettysburg

The Rock of Chickamaugua

The Shades of the Wilderness

The Tree of Appomattox

THE WORLD WAR SERIES

The Guns of Europe

The Hosts of the Air

The Forest of Swords

THE YOUNG TRAILERS SERIES

The Young Trailers

The Forest Runners

The Keepers of the Trail

The Eyes of the Woods

The Free Rangers

The Riflemen of the Ohio

The Scouts of the Valley

The Border Watch

THE TEXAN SERIES

The Texan Star

The Texan Scouts

The Texan Triumph

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR SERIES

The Hunters of the Hills

The Shadow of the North

The Rulers of the Lakes

BOOKS NOT IN SERIES

Apache Gold

The Quest of the Four

The Last of the Chiefs

In Circling Camps

A Soldier of Manhattan

The Sun of Saratoga

A Herald of the West

The Wilderness Road

My Captive

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK

* * * * *

THE EYES OF THE WOODS

A Story of the Ancient Wilderness

by

JOSEPH A. ALTSHELER

Author of

"The Young Trailers," "The Shadow of the North,"

"The Hunters of the Hills," "The Tree of Appomattox," Etc.

Illustrated by D. C. Hutchison

[Illustration: "It was the shiftless one who had shot the bear,

and he was proud"]

D. Appleton and Company

New York and London: 1917

Copyright, 1917, by

D. Appleton and Company

Printed in the United States of America

FOREWORD

"The Eyes of the Woods" is an independent story, telling of certain

remarkable events in the life of Henry Ware, Paul Cotter, Shif'less Sol

Hyde, Silent Tom Ross and Long Jim Hart. But it is also a part of the

series dealing with these characters, and is the fourth in point of

time, coming just after "The Keepers of the Trail."

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE FLIGHT 1

II. THE GREAT JOKE 23

III. A MERRY NIGHT 45

IV. THE CAPTURED CANOE 67

V. THE PROTECTING RIVER 89

VI. THE OASIS 111

VII. INTO THE NORTH 130

VIII. THE BUFFALO RING 149

IX. THE COVERT 168

X. THE BEAR GUIDE 186

XI. THE GREATER POWERS 209

XII. THE STAG'S COMING 225

XIII. THE LEAPING WOLF 245

XIV. THE WATCHFUL SQUIRREL 266

XV. THE LETTER 286

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"It was the shiftless one who had shot the bear, and

he was proud" _Frontispiece_

"'A lot of 'em are dancin' the scalp dance'" 78

"Red Eagle rose to address his hosts" 204

"A gigantic wolf ... launched himself straight at the

warrior's throat" 254

THE EYES

OF THE WOODS

CHAPTER I

THE FLIGHT

A strong wind swept over the great forest, sending green leaves and

twigs in showers before it, and bringing clouds in battalions from the

west. The air presently grew cold, and then heavy drops of rain came,

pattering at first like shot, but soon settling into a hard and steady

fall that made the day dark and chill, tingeing the whole wilderness

with gloom and desolation.

The deer sought its covert, a buffalo, grazing in a little prairie,

thrust its huge form into a thicket, the squirrel lay snug in its nest

in the hollow of a tree, and the bird in the shelter of the foliage

ceased to sing. The only sounds were those of the elements, and the

world seemed to have returned to the primeval state that had endured for

ages. It was the kingdom of fur, fin and feather, and, so far as the

casual eye could have seen, man had not yet come.

But in the deep cleft of the cliff, from which coign of vantage they had

fought off Shawnee and Miami, Henry Ware, Paul Cotter and Long Jim Hart

sat snug, warm and dry, and looked out at the bitter storm. Near them a

small fire burned, the smoke passing out at the entrance, and at the far

end of the hollow much more wood was heaped. There were five beds of dry

leaves with the blankets lying upon them, useful articles were stored in

the niches of the stone, and jerked meat lay upon the natural shelves.

It was a secret, but cheerful spot in that vast, wet and cold

wilderness. Long Jim felt its comfort and security, as he rose, put

another stick of wood on the fire, and then resumed his seat near the

others.

"I'm sorry the storm came up so soon," said Henry. "Of course, Sol and

Tom are hardened to all kinds of weather, but it's not pleasant to be

caught in the woods at such a time."

"And our ammunition," said Paul. "It wouldn't hurt the lead, of course,

but it would be a disaster for the powder to be soaked through and

through. They'd have to go back to the settlements, and that would mean

a long journey and a lot of lost time."

"I don't think we need be afraid about the powder," said Henry.

"Whatever happens, Sol and Tom will protect it, even if their own bodies

suffer."

"Then I'm thinkin' they'll have to do a lot of protectin'," said Long

Jim. "The wind is blowin' plum' horizontal, an' the rain is sweepin'

'long in sheets."

Henry, despite his consoling words, was very anxious. Since their great

battle with the invading Indian force and the destruction of the cannon,

their supply of ammunition had run very low, and without powder and

bullets they were lost in the wilderness. He walked to the narrow

entrance of the cave, and, standing just where the rain could not reach

him, looked out upon the cold and dripping forest, a splendid figure

clothed in deerskin, specially adapted in both body and mind to

wilderness life.

He saw nothing but the foliage bending before the wind and the chill

sheets sent down by the clouds. The somber sky and the desolation would

not have made him feel lonely, even had he been without his comrades. He

had faced primeval nature too often and he knew it too well to be

overcome or to be depressed by any of its dangers. Yet his heart would

have leaped had he beheld the shiftless and the silent ones, making

their way among the trees, the needed packs on their backs.

"Any sign, Henry?" asked Paul.

"None," replied the tall youth, "but they said they'd be here today."

Paul, who was lying on a great buffalo robe with his feet to the fire,

shifted himself into an easier position. His face expressed content and

he felt no anxiety about the traveling two.

"If Shif'less Sol promised to be here he'll keep his word," he said,

"and Silent Tom will come without making any promises."

"You do talk won'erful well sometimes, Paul," said Long Jim, "an' I

reckon you've put the facts jest right. I ain't goin' to be troubled in

my mind a-tall, a-tall 'bout them fellers. They'll be here. Tom loves

nice tender buffler steak best, an' I'm goin' to have it ready fur him,

while Sol dotes most on fat juicy wild turkey, an' that'll be waitin'

fur him, too."

He turned to his stores, and producing the delicacies his comrades loved

began to fry them over the coals. The pleasant odors filled their rocky

home.

"I give them two a half hour more," he said. "I ain't got any gift uv

second sight. I don't look into the future--nobody does--but I jest

figger on what they are an' what they kin do, an' then I feel shore that

a half hour more is enough."

"Henry," asked Paul, "do you think the Miamis and the Shawnees will come

back after us?"

"I reckon upon it," replied Henry, still watching the wet forest. "Red

Eagle and Yellow Panther are shrewd and thoughtful chiefs, and Braxton

Wyatt and Blackstaffe are full of cunning. They are all able to put two

and two together, and they know that it was we who destroyed their

cannon when they attempted the big attack on the settlements. They'll

look upon us as the scouts and sentinels who see everything they do."

"The eyes of the woods," said Paul.

"Yes, that expresses it, and they'll feel that they're bound to destroy

us. As soon as the warriors get over their panic they'll come back to

put out the eyes that see too much of their deeds. They know, of course,

that we hold this hollow and that we've made a home here for a while."

"But as they won't return for some time I mean to take my comfort while

I can," said Paul sleepily. "I wouldn't exchange this buffalo robe, the

leaves under it, the fire before my feet and the roof of rock over my

head for the finest house in all the provinces. The power of contrast

makes my present situation one of great luxury."

"Power uv contrast! You do use a heap uv big words, Paul," said Long

Jim, "but I 'spose they're all right. Leastways I don't know they ain't.

Now, I'm holdin' back this buffler steak an' wild turkey, 'cause I want

'em to be jest right, when Sol an' Tom set down afore the fire. See

anythin' comin' through the woods, Henry?"

"No, Jim, nothing stirs there."

"It don't bother me. They'll 'pear in good time. They've a full ten

minutes yet, an' thar dinners will be jest right fur 'em. I hate to brag

on myself, but I shorely kin cook. Ain't we lucky fellers, Paul? It

seems to me sometimes that Providence has done picked us out ez speshul

favorites. Good fortune is plum' showered on us. We've got a snug holler

like this, one uv the finest homes a man could live in, an' round us is

a wilderness runnin' thousands uv miles, chock full uv game, waitin' to

be hunted by us. Ev'ry time the savages think they've got us, an' it

looks too ez ef they wuz right, we slip right out uv thar hands an' the

scalps are still growin' full an' free, squar'ly on top uv our heads. We

shorely do git away always, an' it 'pears to me, Paul, that we are

'bout the happiest an' most fort'nate people in the world."

Paul raised his head and looked at Jim, but it was evident to the lad

that his long comrade was in dead earnest, and perhaps he was right. The

lad shifted himself again and the light of the blaze flickered over his

finely-chiseled, scholarly face. Long Jim glanced at him with

understanding.

"Ef you had a book or two, Paul," he said, "you could stay here waitin'

an' be happy. Sometimes I wish that I liked to read. What's in it, Paul,

that kin chain you to one place an' make you content to be thar?"

"Because in the wink of an eye, Jim, it transports you to another world.

You are in new lands, and with new people, seeing what they do and doing

it with them. It gives your mind change, though your body may lie still.

Do you see anything yet, Henry, besides the forest and the rain?"

"A black dot among the trees, Paul, but it's very small and very far,

and it may be a bear that's wandered out in the wet. Besides, it's two

dots that we want to see, not one, and--as sure as I live there are two,

moving this way, though they're yet too distant for me to tell what they

are."

"But since they're two, and they're coming towards us, they ought to be

those whom we're expecting."

"Now they've moved into a space free of undergrowth and I see them more

clearly. They're not bears, nor yet deer. They're living human beings

like ourselves."

"Keep looking, Henry, and tell us whether you recognize 'em."

"The first is a tall man, young, with light hair. He is bent over a

little because of the heavy pack on his back, and the long distance he

has come, but he walks with a swing that I've seen before."

"I reckon," said Long Jim, "that he's close kin to that lazy critter,

Shif'less Sol."

"Closer even than a twin brother," continued Henry. "I'd know him

anywhere. The other just behind him, and bent also a little with his

heavy pack, is amazingly like a friend of ours, an old comrade who talks

little, but who does much."

"None other than Silent Tom," said Paul joyfully, as he rose and joined

Henry at the door. "Yes, there they are, two men, staunch and true, and

they bring the powder and lead. Of course they'd come on time! Nothing

could stop 'em. The whole Shawnee and Miami nations might be in between,

but they'd find a way through."

"An' the buffler steak an' the wild turkey are jest right," called Long

Jim. "Tell 'em to come straight in an' set down to the table."

Henry, putting his fingers to his lips, uttered a long and cheerful

whistle. The shiftless one and the silent one, raising their heads, made

glad reply. They were soaked and tired, but success and journey's end

lay just before them, and they advanced with brisker steps, to be

greeted with strong clasps of the hand and a warm welcome. They entered

the rocky home, put aside the big packs with sighs of relief and spread

out their fingers to the grateful heat.

"That's the last work I mean to do fur a year," said Shif'less Sol.

"'Twuz a big job, a mighty big job fur me, a lazy man, an' now I'm goin'

to rest fur months an' months, while Long Jim waits on me an' feeds me."

"Jest now I'm glad to do it, Sol," said Jim. "Take off your clothes, you

an' Tom, hang 'em on the shelf thar to dry, an' now set to. The steaks

an' the turkey are the finest I ever cooked, an' they're all fur you

two. An' I kin tell you fellers that the sight uv you is good fur weak

eyes."

Shif'less Sol and Silent Tom ate like epicures, while, denuded of their

wet deerskins but wrapped in dry blankets, they basked in the heat.

"Not a drop of rain got at the powder," said the shiftless one

presently, "an' even ef we don't capture any from the Injuns we ought to

hev enough thar to last us many months."

"Did you see anything of the warriors?" asked Henry.

"We hit one trail 'bout fifty miles south uv here, but we didn't have

time to foller it. Still, it's 'nough to show that they're in between us

an' the settlements."

"We expected it. We discovered sufficient while you were gone to be sure

they're going to make a great effort to end us. They look upon us as the

eyes of the woods, and they've concluded that their first business is

with us before they make another attack on our villages."

Shif'less Sol helped himself to a fresh piece of the wild turkey, and

made another fold of the blanket about his athletic body.

"Paul hez talked so much 'bout them old Romans wrapped in their togys

that I feel like one now," he said, "an' I kin tell you I feel pow'ful

fine, too. That wuz a cold rain an' a wet rain, an' the fire an' the

food are mighty good, but it tickles me even more to know how them

renegades an' warriors rage ag'inst us. I've a heap o' respeck fur Red

Eagle an' Yellow Panther, who are great chiefs an' who are fightin' fur

thar rights ez they see 'em, but the madder Blackstaffe an' Wyatt git

the better I like it."

"Me, too," said Silent Tom with emphasis, relapsing then into silence

and his preoccupation with the buffalo steak. The shiftless one regarded

him with a measuring gaze.

"Tom," he said, "why can't you let a feller finish his dinner without

chatterin' furever? I see the day comin' when you'll talk us all plum'

to death."

Silent Tom shook his head in dissent. He had exhausted speech.

Paul, who had remained at the door, watching, announced an increase of

rain and wind. Both were driving so hard that leaves and twigs were

falling, and darkness as of twilight spread over the skies. The cold,

although but temporary, was like that of early winter.

"We needn't expect any attack now," said Henry. "Join us, Paul, around

the fire, and we'll have a grand council, because we must decide how

we're going to meet the great man hunt they're organizing for us."

Paul left the cleft, and sat down on a doubled blanket with his back

against the wall. He felt the full gravity of the crisis, knowing that

hundreds of warriors would be put upon their trail, resolved never

to leave the search until the five were destroyed, but he had full

confidence in his comrades. In all the world there were not five others

so fit to overcome the dangers of the woods, and so able to endure their

hardships.

"I suppose, Henry," said Paul, with his mind full of ancient lore, "now

that the Roman Senate, or its successor, is in session you are its

presiding officer."

"If that's the wish of the rest of you," said Henry.

"It is!" they said all together.

Henry, like Paul, was sitting on his doubled blanket with his back

against the stony wall. Jim Hart, his long legs crossed, occupied a

similar position, and, by the flickering light of the fire, Shif'less

Sol and Silent Tom, wrapped in their blankets, looked in truth like

Roman senators.

"Will you tell us, Henry, what you found out while we wuz away?" asked

the shiftless one. Henry had made a scouting expedition while the two

were gone for the powder and lead.

"I made one journey across the Ohio," replied their chief, "and at

night I went near a Shawnee village. Red Eagle was there, and so were

Blackstaffe and Wyatt. Lying in the bushes near the fire by which they

sat, I could catch enough of their talk to learn that the Shawnee and

Miami nations are going to bend all their energies and powers to our

destruction. That is settled."

"I feel a heap flattered," said Shif'less Sol, "that so many warriors

should be sent ag'inst us, who are only five. What wuz it that old

feller was always sayin', Paul, every time he held up a bunch o' fresh

figs before the noses o' the Roman senators?"

"_Delenda est Carthago_, which is Latin, Sol, and it means just now,

when I give it a liberal translation, that we five must be wiped clean

off the face of the earth."

"I've heard you say often, Paul, that Latin was a dead language, an' so

all them old dead sayin's won't hev any meanin' fur us. I kin live long

on the threats o' Braxton Wyatt an' Blackstaffe, an' so kin all o' us.

But go on, Henry. I 'pologize fur interruptin' the presidin' officer."

"I learned all I could there," continued Henry, "but I was able to

gather only their general intention, that is their resolve to crush us,

a plan that both Wyatt and Blackstaffe urged. However, when I trailed a

large band two days later, and crept near their camp, I discovered

more."

"What wuz it?" exclaimed the shiftless one, leaning forward a little,

his face showing tense and eager in the glow of the flames.

"They're going to spread a net for us. Not one body of warriors will

seek us, but many. Red Eagle will lead a band, Yellow Panther will be

at the head of another, Braxton Wyatt will be in charge of a third,

Blackstaffe will take a fourth, and there will be at least seven or

eight more, though some of them may unite later. Shif'less Sol has put

it right. We'll be honored as men were never honored before in this

wilderness. At least a thousand warriors, brave and skillful men, all,

will be hunting us, two hundred to one and maybe more."

"And while they're hunting us," said Paul, his eyes glistening, "we'll

draw 'em off from the settlements, and we'll be serving our people just

as much as we did when we were destroying the big guns, and filling the

warriors with superstitious alarm."

"True in every word," said Henry, his soul rising for the contest. "Let

'em come on and we'll lead 'em such a chase that their feet will be worn

to the bone, and their minds will be full of despair!"

"You put it right," said the shiftless one. "I think I'll enjoy bein' a

fox fur awhile. The forest is full o' holes an' dens, an' when they dig

me out o' one I'll be off fur another."

"We know the wilderness as well as they do," said Henry, "and we can use

as many tricks as they can. Now, since they're spreading a great net, we

must take the proper steps to evade it. Having besieged our refuge here

once, they'll naturally look again for us in this place. If they catch

us inside they'll sit outside until they starve us to death."

"Which means," said Paul regretfully, "that we must leave our nice dry

home."

"So it does, but not, I think, before tomorrow morning, and we'll use

the hours meanwhile to good advantage. We must begin at once molding

into bullets the lead that Sol and Tom brought."

Every one of the five carried with him that necessary implement in the

wilderness, a bullet mold, and they began the task immediately, all save

Henry, who went outside, despite the fierce rain, and scouted a bit

among the bushes and trees. The four made bullets fast, melting the

lead in a ladle that Jim carried, pouring it into the molds, and then

dropping the shining and deadly pellets one by one into their pouches.

Three of them talked as they worked, but Silent Tom did not speak for a

full hour. Then he said:

"We'll have five hundred apiece."

Shif'less Sol looked at him reprovingly.

"Tom," he said, "I predicted a while ago that the time wuz soon comin'

when you'd talk us to death. You used five words then, when you know

your 'lowance is only one an hour."

Tom Ross flushed under his tan. He hated, above all things, to be

garrulous. "Sorry," he muttered, and continued his work with renewed

energy and speed. The bullets seemed to drop in a shining stream from

his mold into his pouch. But Shif'less Sol talked without ceasing, his

pleasant chatter encouraging them, as music cheers troops for battle.

"It ain't right fur me to hev to work this way," he said, "me sich a

lazy man. I ought to lay over thar on a blanket, an' go to sleep while

Jim does my share ez well ez his own."

"When I'm doin' your share, Sol Hyde," said Long Jim, "you'll be dead.

Not till then will I ever tech a finger to your work. You are a lazy

man, ez you say, an' fur sev'ral years now I've been tryin' to cure you

uv it, but I ain't made no progress that I kin see."

"I don't want you to make progress, Jim. I like to be lazy, an' jest now

I feel pow'ful fine, fed well, an' layin' here, wrapped in a blanket

before a good warm fire."

Henry went back to the cleft, and took another long look. The conditions

had not changed, save that night was coming and the wilderness was chill

and hostile. The wind blew with a steady shrieking sound, and the

driving rain struck like sleet. Leaves fell before it, and in every

depression of the earth the water stood in pools. Over this desolate

scene the faint sun was sinking and the twilight, colder and more solemn

than the day, was creeping. He looked at the wet forest and the coming

dusk, and then back at the dry hollow and the warm fire behind him. The

contrast was powerful, but only one choice was left to them.

"Boys," he said, "we'll have to make the most of tonight."

"Because we must leave our home in the morning?" said Paul.

"Yes, that's it. We'll have to take to the woods, no matter how hard it

is. Chance doesn't favor us this time. I fancy the band led by Braxton

Wyatt will make straight for our house here."

"Since it's the last dry bed I'll have fur some time I'm goin' to

sleep," said Shif'less Sol plaintively. "Everybody pesters a lazy man,

an' I mean to use the little time I hev."

"You've a right to it, Sol," said Henry, "because you've walked long and

far, and you've brought what we needed most. The sooner you and Tom go

to sleep the better. Paul, you join 'em and Jim and I will watch."

The shiftless one and the silent one turned on their sides, rested their

heads on their arms and in a minute or two were off to the land of

slumber. Paul was slower, but in a quarter of an hour or so he followed

them to the same happy region. Long Jim put out the fire, lest the gleam

of the coals through the cleft should betray their presence to a

creeping enemy--although neither he nor Henry expected any danger at

present--and took his place beside his watchful comrade.

The two did not talk, but in the long hours of rain and darkness they

guarded the entrance. Their eyes became so used to the dusk that they

could see far, but they saw nothing alive save, late in the night, a

lumbering black bear, driven abroad and in the storm by some restless

spirit. Long Jim watched the ungainly form, as it shambled out of sight

into a thicket.

"A bad conscience, I reckon," he said. "That b'ar would be layin' snug

in his den ef he didn't hev somethin' on his mind. He's ramblin' 'roun'

in the rain an' cold, cause's he's done a wrong deed, an' can't sleep

fur thinkin' uv it. Stole his pardner's berries an' roots, mebbe."

"Perhaps you're right, Jim," Henry said, "and animals may have

consciences. We human beings are so conceited that we think we alone

feel the difference between right and wrong."

"I know one thing, Henry, I know that b'ars an' panthers wouldn't leave

thar own kind an' fight ag'inst thar own race, as Braxton Wyatt an'

Blackstaffe do. That black b'ar we jest saw may feel sore an' bad, but

he ain't goin' to lead no expedition uv strange animals ag'inst the

other black b'ars."

"You're right, Jim."

"An' fur that reason, Henry, I respeck a decent honest black b'ar, even

ef he is mad at hisself fur some leetle mistake, an' even ef he can't

read an' write an' don't know a knife from a fork more than I do a

renegade man who's huntin' the scalps uv them he ought to help."

"Well spoken, Jim. Your sense of right and wrong is correct nearly

always. Like you, I've a lot of respect for the black bear, and also for

the deer and the buffalo and the panther and the other people of the

woods. Do you think the rain is dying somewhat?"

"'Pears so to me. It may stop by day an' give us a chance to leave

without a soakin'."

They relapsed again into a long silence, but they saw that their hope

was coming true. The wind was sinking, its shriek shrinking to a whisper

and then to a sigh. The rain ceased to beat so hard, coming by and by

only in fitful showers, while rays of moonlight, faint at first, began

to appear in the western sky. In another half hour the last shower came

and passed, but the forest was still heavy with dripping waters. Henry,

nevertheless, knew that it was time to go, and he awakened the sleepers.

"We must make up our packs," he said.

The five worked with speed and skill. All the lead, newly brought, had

been molded into bullets, and the powder, save that in their horns,

was carried in bags. This, with the blankets and portions of food,

constituted most of their packs. Some furs and skins they left to those

who might come, and then they slipped from the warm hollow, which had

furnished such a grateful shelter to them.

"It's just as well," said Henry, "that we should let 'em think we're

still in there. Then they may waste a day or two in approaching, so hide

your footprints."

The earth was soft from the rain, but the stony outcrop ran a long

distance, and they walked on it cautiously so far as it went, after

which they continued on the fallen trunks and brush, with which the

forest had been littered by the winds of countless years. They were

able, without once touching foot to ground, to reach a brook, into which

they stepped, following its course at least two miles. When they emerged

at last they sat down on stones and let the water run from their

moccasins and leggings.

"I don't like getting wet, this way," said Henry, "but there was no

choice. At least, we know we've come a great distance and have left no

trail. There'll be no chance to surprise us now. How long would you say

it is till day, Sol?"

"'Bout two hours," replied the shiftless one, "an' I 'spose we might ez

well stay here a while. We're south o' the hollow an' Wyatt an' his band

are purty shore to come out o' the north. The woods are mighty wet, but

the day is goin' to be without rain, an' a good sun will dry things

fast. What we want is to git a new home fur a day or two, in some deep

thicket."

They began to search and presently found a dense tangle, with several

large trees growing near the center of it, the trunk of one of them

hollowed out by time. In the opening they put their bags of powder, part

of their bullets and other supplies, and then, wrapped in their

blankets, sat down in the brush before it.

"Now, Henry," said Shif'less Sol, "it's shore that we ain't goin' to be

besieged, though our empty holler may be, an' that bein' the case, an'

the trouble bein' passed fur the moment, you an' Jim, who watched most

o' the night, go to sleep, an' Tom an' Paul too might take up thar naps

whar they left 'em off. I'll do the watchin', an' I'll take a kind o'

pride in doin' it all by myself."

The others made no protest, but, leaning their backs against the tree

trunks, soon fell asleep, while the shiftless one, rifle under his arm,

went to the edge of the canebrake, and began his patrol. He bore little

resemblance to a lazy man now. He was, next to Henry, the greatest

forest runner of the five, a marvel of skill, endurance and perception,

with a mighty heart beating beneath his deerskins, and an intellect of

wonderful native power, reasoning and drawing deductions under his

thatch of blonde hair.

Shif'less Sol listened to the drip, drip of water from the wet boughs

and leaves, and he watched a great sun, red and warm, creep slowly over

the eastern hills. He was not uncomfortable, nor was he afraid of

anything, but he was angry. He remembered with regret the pleasant

hollow, so dry and snug. It belonged, by right of discovery and

improvement, to his comrades and himself, but it might soon be defiled

by the presence of Indians, led by the hated renegade, Braxton Wyatt.

They would sleep on his favorite bed of leaves, they would cook where

Long Jim Hart had cooked so well, though they could never equal him, and

they would certainly take as their own the furs and skins they had been

compelled to leave behind.

The more he thought of it the stronger his wrath grew. Had it not been

for his fear of leaving a betraying trail he would have gone back to see

if the warriors were already approaching the hollow; but his sense of

duty and obvious necessity kept him at the edge of the brake in which

his comrades lay, deep in happy slumber.

Morning advanced, warm and beautiful, sprinkling the world at first

with silver and then with gold, the sky gradually turning to a deep

velvety blue, as intense as any that the shiftless one had ever seen.

The myriads of raindrops stood out at first like silver beads on grass

and leaves, and then dried up rapidly under the brilliant rays of the

sun. A light breeze blew through the foliage, and sang a pleasant song

as it blew.

Shif'less Sol felt a wonderful uplift of the spirits. In the darkness

and rain of the night before he might have been depressed somewhat at

leaving their good shelter for the wet wilderness, but in the splendid

dawn he was all buoyancy and confidence.

"Let 'em come," he said to himself. "Let Braxton Wyatt an' Blackstaffe

an' all the Miamis an' Shawnees hunt us fur a year, but they won't get

us, no, not one of us."

Then he sank silently in the deep grass and slid cautiously away, not

toward the dense brake, but to a point well to one side. His acute ear

had heard a sound which was not a part of the morning, and while it

might be made by a wild animal, then again it might be caused by wilder

man. He thanked his wary soul, when, looking above the tops of the

grass, he saw two warriors, Shawnees by their paint, emerge from the

woods and walk northward, to be followed presently by a full score more,

Braxton Wyatt himself at their head.

And so the band had come out of the south, instead of the north!

Doubtless they had circled about before approaching, in order to make

the surprise complete, and the trigger drew the finger of the shiftless

one like a magnet, as he looked at the renegade, the most ruthless

hunter among those who hunted the five. Although the temptation to do so

was strong, Shif'less Sol did not fire, knowing that his bullet would

draw the attack of the band upon his comrades and himself. Instead, he

followed them cautiously about half a mile.

He was confirmed in his opinion--in truth, little short of certainty in

the first instance--that they were marching against the hollow, and its

supposed inmates, as presently they began to advance with extreme care,

kneeling down in the undergrowth and sending out flankers. Shif'less Sol

laughed. It was a low laugh, but deep, and full of unction. He knew that

the farther march of Wyatt and his warriors would be very slow, having

in mind the deadly rifles of the five, the muzzles of which they would

feel sure were projecting from the mouth of the rocky retreat. It was

likely that the entire morning would be spent in an enveloping movement,

dusky figures creeping forward inch by inch in a semi-circle, and then

nothing would be inside the semi-circle.

Shif'less Sol laughed to himself again, and with the same deep and

heartfelt unction. Then he turned and went back to his comrades, who yet

slept soundly in the brake. The cane was so dense that they lay in the

dimness of the shadows, and there was no disturbing light upon their

eyes to awaken them. Shif'less Sol contemplated them with satisfaction,

and then he sat down silently near them. He saw no reason to awaken

them. Braxton Wyatt was now formally arranging the siege of the rocky

refuge and its vanished defenders, and he would not interrupt him for

worlds in that congenial task. For the third time he laughed to himself

with depth and unction.

The sun rose higher in a sky that arched in its perfect blue over a day

of dazzling beauty. The last drop of rain on leaf or grass dried up, and

the forest was a deep green, suffused and tinted, though, with a

luminous golden glow from the splendid sun. The shiftless one raised his

head and inhaled its clear, sweet odors, the great heart under the

deerskins and the great brain under the thatch of hair alike sending

forth a challenge. Not all the Shawnees, not all the Miamis, not all the

renegades could drive the five from this mighty, unoccupied wilderness

of Kain-tuck-ee, which his comrades and he loved and in which they had

as good a right as any Indian or renegade that ever lived.

It was so still in the canebrake that the birds over the head of the

watcher began to sing. Another black bear lumbered toward them, and,

catching the strange, human odor, lumbered away again. A deer, a tall

buck, holding up his head, sniffed the air, and then ran. Wild turkeys

in a distant tree gobbled, a bald eagle clove the air on swift wing, but

the sleepers slept placidly on.