THE DEED IN THE DARK
Henry was the leading swimmer, but he paused ten yards from the shore
and the others paused with him. Six black dots hung in a row on the dark
surface of the river. But so well did they blend with the shadow of the
stream that an Indian eye on the bank, no matter how sharp, might have
passed them over.
"The thing to do," said Henry, "is to make no noise. We must swim
without splashing and we've got to find that flatboat with the cannon on
it. You understand?"
Not a word was said in reply, but five heads nodded, and the silent six
resumed their swim across the Ohio. They had entered the stream as far
up as possible in order that they might go diagonally toward the south,
thus taking advantage of the current.
Henry turned over on his back, floating easily with the help of one hand
and holding the little pot above his face. Once he opened it a little to
feel that it was still warm from within, and, satisfied that it was so,
he floated silently on. His position made it easiest for him to look
upward, but not much was to be seen there. The promise of the night
still held good in performance. Rolling clouds hid the moon and stars,
and again Henry gave thanks for so favorable a night.
His comrades swam so silently that he turned a little on his side to see
that they were there. Five black dots on the water followed him in a
close row, and, proud of their skill, he turned back again and still
floated with his face to the skies.
They soon passed the middle of the river, and now the extremely delicate
part of their task was come. The lights on the northern bank had
increased to a half dozen and were much larger. They seemed to be camp
fires. Dim outlines of canoes appeared against the bank.
Henry paused, and the five black heads behind him paused with him. He
raised his head a little from the water and studied the shore. A shape,
bigger and darker than the others, told him where the flatboat lay.
Owing to its greater draught, it was anchored in deeper water than the
canoes, which was a fortunate thing for the daring adventurers. Henry
saw the muzzles of the cannon, and a dark figure by each, evidently the
warriors on guard. He could see them, but they could not see him and his
comrades, whose heads were blurred with the darkness of the river. He
turned on his side and whispered to Seth, who was next to him:
"I think we'd better swim above the flatboat, keeping at a good
distance, and then drop down between it and the bank. They will not be
expecting an enemy from that side. What do you think of it, Seth?"
Seth Cole nodded, and they swam silently up stream. If any one splashed
the water it passed for the splash of a leaping fish, and there was no
alarm in the Indian camp. Henry, studying the shore minutely as he swam
with slow stroke, could not see motion anywhere. The fires burned low,
and now that they were dropping down near the shore he saw the dim
outlines of figures beside them. Some of the warriors slept in a sitting
posture with their heads upon their knees, which were clasped in their
arms, while others lay in their blankets. The canoes, in which Indians
also slept, were tied to saplings on the bank.
They swam now with the greatest slowness, barely making a stroke,
drifting rather. Henry knew that not all the warriors on the bank were
asleep. Sentinels stood somewhere among the trees, and it was hard to
escape the vigilance of an Indian on watch. Only a night of unusual
darkness made an approach such as theirs possible.
A broad shape rose out of the obscurity. It was the flatboat, now not
twenty feet away, and Henry paused a moment, the five heads pausing with
him.
"Nobody is watching on this side of the boat," whispered the youthful
leader, "and it will not be hard to climb over the side. We must all do
so at once and make a rush."
"I'm thinkin' you're right," Seth Cole whispered back.
They headed straight for the flatboat and each put a hand upon its side.
A Miami sentinel on the bank heard a splash a little louder than usual,
and he saw a gleam of white in the water beside the flatboat.
The Miami sprang forward for a better look, but he was not in time. Six
white figures rose from the water. Six white figures gave a mighty
heave, and the next moment they were upon the deck. The sentinels,
looking toward the middle of the river, heard the sound of light,
pattering footsteps behind them, and wheeled about. Despite their
courage, they uttered a cry of superstitious horror. Surely these white,
unclad figures were ghosts, or gods come down from the skies! One in his
fright sprang overboard, but the other, recovering himself somewhat,
fired at the foremost of the invaders. His bullet missed, and Henry, not
noticing him, rushed toward the little cabin. Here he saw some bedding,
evidently taken with the boat from its former owners, and he emptied the
coals from the iron pot among it. A blaze instantly sprang up and spread
with great rapidity. Despite the heat, Henry scattered the burning cloth
everywhere with a canoe paddle that lay on the floor. Seth Cole and Tom
Wilmore were also setting the boat on fire in a half dozen places.
The flames roared around them, and then they rushed upon the deck, where
the sounds of conflict had begun. There were renegades as well as
Indians upon the boat, and both soon realized that the invaders were
human beings, not spirits or ghosts. Several shots were fired. A man
from Fort Prescott was slightly wounded in the shoulder, and the red
blood was streaking his white skin. But one of the invaders had used his
tomahawk to terrible purpose--the figure of a warrior lay motionless
upon the deck.
As Henry sprang to the relief of his comrades he ran directly into some
one. The two recoiled, but their faces were then not more than a foot
apart, and Henry recognized Braxton Wyatt. Wyatt knew him, too, and
exclaimed: "Henry Ware!" He had been sleeping upon the boat and
instantly he raised a pistol to make an end of the one whom he hated.
Henry had no time to draw tomahawk or knife, but before the trigger
could be pulled he seized the renegade in the powerful clasp of his bare
arms.
The excitement of the moment, the imminence of the crisis, gave a
superhuman strength to the great youth. He lifted Braxton Wyatt from his
feet, whirled him into the air, and then sent him like a stone from a
sling into the deep water of the Ohio. The renegade uttered a cry as he
sank, but when he came up again he struggled for the shore, not for the
boat. The renegade McKee had already been driven overboard, and the
Indians, who alone were left on the boat, felt their superstition
returning when they saw Braxton Wyatt tossed into the river as if by the
hand of omnipotence. The flames, too, had gained great headway, and were
now roaring high above the deck and the heat was increasing fast. If
these were devils--and devils they certainly must be!--they had brought
with them fire which could not be fought.
The Indians hesitated no longer, and the last of them, leaping
overboard, swam for the land.
"It's time for us to go, too," said Henry to his panting comrades.
"They'll get over their fright in a minute or two and be after us."
"I'm thinkin' you're right," said Seth Cole, "but nothin' kin save this
boat now. She must be an old one. She burns so fast."
Henry sprang into the river and the five followed him, swimming with
their utmost power toward the southern shore. They heard behind them the
crackling of the flames, and a crimson light was cast upon the water.
Henry looked back over his shoulder. The boat was blazing, but the light
from it reached his comrades and himself. The Indians on the bank saw
them. Hasty bullets began to flick the water near them. Canoes were
already starting in chase.
"If that light keeps up, they're bound to git us," said Seth Cole.
"But it won't keep up," said Henry. "Swim, boys! Swim with all your
might! It's not Indians alone that we've got to dodge!"
Tired as they were, they increased their speed by a supreme effort for a
minute or so, and then as if by the same impulse all looked back. The
boat was a mass of flame, a huge core of light, casting a brilliant
reflection far out over the river and upon the bank, where trees,
bushes, and warriors alike stood out in the red flare.
The boat seemed to quiver, and suddenly it leaped into the air. Then
came a tremendous explosion and a gush of overpowering flame. Henry and
his comrades dived instantly and swam as far as they could under water
toward the eastern shore. When they came up again the flatboat and its
terrible cannon were gone, heavy darkness again hung over land and
water, and pieces of burning wood were falling with a hissing splash
into the river. But they heard the voices of warriors calling to each
other, organizing already for pursuit. Their expedition was a brilliant
success, but Henry knew that it would be a hard task to regain Fort
Prescott. Led by the renegades and driven on by their bitter chagrin,
the Indians would swarm upon the river in their canoes, seeking for them
everywhere with eyes used to darkness.
"Are you all here, boys?" he asked. He had been scorched on the shoulder
by a burning fragment, but in the excitement he did not notice it. Two
of the men were slightly wounded, but at that time they thought nothing
of their hurts. All six were there, and at Henry's suggestion they dived
again, floating down stream as long as they could hold their breath.
When they came up again the six heads were somewhat scattered, but Henry
called to them softly, and they swam close together again. Then they
floated upon their backs and held a council of war.
"It seems likely to me," said Henry, "that the Indian canoes will go
straight across the stream after us, naturally thinking that we'll make
at once for Fort Prescott."
"I'm thinkin' that you're tellin' the truth," said Seth Cole.
"Then we must drop down the stream, strike the bank, and come back up in
the brush to the place where our rifles and clothes are hid."
"Looks like the right thing to me," said Tom Wilmore. "I'll want my
rifle back, but 'pears to me I'll want my clothes wuss. I'm a bashful
man, I am. Look thar! they've got torches!"
Indians standing up in the canoes were sweeping the water with pine
torches in the search for the fugitives, and Henry saw that they must
hasten.
"We must make another dash for the bank," he said. "Keep your heads as
low down on the water as you can."
They swam fast, but the Indian canoes were spreading out, and one tall
warrior who held a burning pine torch in his hand uttered a shout. He
had seen the six dots on the stream.
"Dive for it again," cried Henry, "and turn your heads toward the land!"
He knew that the Indians would fire, and as he and his comrades went
under he heard the spatter of bullets on the water. When they rose to
the surface again they were where they could wade, and they ran toward
the bank. They reached dry land, but even in the obscurity of the night
their figures were outlined against the dark green bush, and the
warriors from their canoes fired again. Henry heard near him a low cry,
almost suppressed at the lips, and if it had not been for the red stain
on Tom Wilmore's shoulder he would not have known who had been hit.
"Is it bad, Tom?" he exclaimed.
"Not very," replied Wilmore, shutting his teeth hard. "Go on. I can keep
up."
A boat suddenly shot out of the dusk very near. It contained four Indian
warriors, two with paddles and two with upraised rifles. One of the
rifles was aimed at Henry and the other at Seth Cole, and neither of
them had a weapon with which to reply. Henry looked straight at the
muzzle which bore upon him. It seemed to exercise a kind of terrible
fascination for him, and he was quite confident that his time was at
hand.
He saw the warrior who knelt in the canoe with the rifle aimed at him
suddenly turn to an ashy paleness. A red spot appeared in his forehead.
The rifle dropped from his hands into the water, and the Indian himself,
collapsing, slipped gently over the side and into the Ohio. The second
Indian had fallen upon his back in the canoe, and only the paddlers
remained.
Henry was conscious afterward that he had heard two shots, but at the
time he did not notice them. The deliverance was so sudden, so
opportune, that it was miraculous, and while the frightened paddlers
sent their canoe flying away from the bank, Henry and his comrades
darted into the thick bush that lined the cliff and were hidden from the
sight of all who were on the river.
"Our clothes and our rifles," whispered Henry. "We must get them at
once."
"They fired from the fort just in time," said Tom Wilmore.
Henry glanced upward. The palisade was at least three hundred yards
away.
"Those bullets did not come from Fort Prescott," he said. "It's too far
from us, and they were fired by better marksmen than any who are up
there now."
"I think so, too," said Seth Cole, "an' I'm wonderin' who pulled them
triggers."
Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross were first in Henry's mind, but he knew that
both had suffered wounds sufficient to keep them quiet for several days,
and he believed that the timely shots were the work of other hands.
Whoever the strangers might be they had certainly proved themselves the
best and most timely of friends.
They reached the thicket in which they had hidden their clothes and
rifles, and found them untouched.
"Queer how much confidence clothes give to a feller!" exclaimed Seth
Cole, as he slipped on his buckskins.
"It's so," said Henry, "and it's so, too, that you're not a whole man
until you get back your rifle."
When he grasped the beautiful weapon which had been his prize he felt
strength flowing in a full tide in every vein. Before he was halt, a
cripple, but now he was a match for anybody. He heard a quick, gasping
breath, and the sound of a soft fall.
Tom Wilmore had sunk forward, prone in the bushes. His wound in the
shoulder was deeper than he had admitted. Through the thicket came the
sounds of pursuit. The warriors had left the canoes and were seeking
them on land.
But the borderers had no thought of deserting their senseless comrade.
Two of the men raised him up between them, and Henry, Seth Cole, and the
sixth, armed with weapons of range and precision, protected the rear. Up
the slope they went toward the fort. Henry presently heard light
footsteps among the bushes and he fired toward the sound. He did not
believe that he could hit anything in the darkness and uncertainty, but
he wished to attract the attention of the watchers of the palisade. The
diversion was effective, as shots were fired over their heads when they
came near the wooden walls, and the pursuers drew back.
Tom Wilmore revived and demanded to be put down. It hurt his pride that
he should have to be carried. He insisted that he was not hurt
seriously, and was on his feet again when they reached the palisade. The
anxious voice of Major Braithwaite hailed from the dark.
"Is it you, Ware; is it you, young sir?"
"We are here, all of us," replied Henry, and the next instant they were
at the foot of the palisade, where Major Braithwaite and at least twenty
men were ready to receive them.
When they were helped over the wall the Major counted quickly:
"One! two! three! four! five! six! all here, and only two wounded! It
was a wonderful exploit! In the name of Neptune, how did you do it?"
"We took the flatboat just as we planned," replied Henry with pardonable
pride. "We set it on fire, and it blew up, also just as we planned.
Those cannon are now twisted old iron lying at the bottom of the Ohio
River."
"We saw the fire and we heard the explosion," said the Major. "We knew
that your daring expedition had succeeded, but we feared that your party
would never be able to reach the fort again."
"We are here, however, thanks to the assistance of somebody," said
Henry, "and nobody is hurt badly except Tom Wilmore there."
"An' I ain't hurt so bad, neither," said Tom shame-facedly. "Things did
git kinder dark down thar, but I'm all right now, ready for what may
happen to be needed."
A few scattering shots were fired by the Indians in the woods at the
foot of the bluff, and a few more from canoes on the river, but the
garrison did not take the trouble to reply. Henry was quite sure that
the Indians would not remain in the brush on the cliff, as the morning
would find them, if there, in an extremely dangerous position, and,
deeply content with the night's work, one of the best that he had ever
done, he sought sleep in the log house which had been assigned to him.
It was a little one-roomed cabin with a bed of buffalo robes and
bearskins, upon which the boy sank exhausted. He had made sure, before
withdrawing, that Tom Wilmore was receiving the proper attention, and
hence he had little upon his mind now. He could enjoy their triumph in
its full measure, and he ran back rapidly over incidents of their daring
trip. Everything was almost as vivid as if it were occurring again, and
he could account for detail after detail in its logical sequence until
he came to the two gunshots that had saved them. Who had fired the
bullets? In any event, it was evident that they had effective friends
outside the walls, and while he was still wondering about them he fell
asleep.
The siege the next day was desultory. There were occasional shots from
the forest and the river, but the far-reaching cannon were gone, and the
garrison paid little attention to rifle bullets that fell short.
Moreover, they were all--men, women and children--full of courage. The
exploit of the six in blowing up the flatboat and sending the cannon to
the bottom of the river seemed to them a proof that they could do
anything and defeat any attempt upon Fort Prescott.
But Henry and Major Braithwaite in the cupola of the blockhouse once
more looked southward over the surface of the Ohio and wondered why the
fleet did not come. Henry, with the coming of the day, felt new
misgivings. The Indians, with the whole forest to feed them and freedom
to go and come as they pleased--vast advantages--would persist in the
siege. Timmendiquas would keep them to it, and he might also be holding
back the fleet. White Lightning was a general and he would use his
forces to the best advantage. After a last vain look through the glasses
down the river, he took another resolve.
"I'm going out again to-night, Major," he said. "I'm going to hasten the
fleet."
"We can ill spare you, my lad," said the Major, putting an affectionate
hand upon his shoulder, "but perhaps it is best that you should go. You
saved us once, and it may be that you will save us twice. I'll not say
anything about your going to the people in general. They think you bring
good fortune, and it might discourage them to know that you are gone."
* * * * *
It was night, and only Major Braithwaite and Seth Cole saw Henry leave
Fort Prescott.
"I'll be back in a few days, Major," said the boy, "and I'll bring
help."
"You've given us great help already, young sir," said Major Braithwaite.
"How, in the name of Neptune, we can ever thank you sufficiently, I
don't know."
"I'm thinkin' we do owe you a lot," said Seth Cole tersely.
The boy smiled in the dark as he shook their hands. He was not foolish
to conceal from himself that he liked their praise, but he tried to
disclaim credit.
"I was merely a little luckier than my comrades," he said, "but don't
you let them surprise you, Major. Keep a good watch. Since those cannon
were blown up and sunk, you can hold them."
"We'll do it or, in the name of Neptune, we'll die trying," said Major
Braithwaite.
"I'm thinkin' we kin do it," said Seth Cole.
Then Henry was over the palisade and gone, slipping away so quietly that
Major Braithwaite was startled. The boy was there, and then he wasn't.
Henry dropped over the wall on the side next to the river, which he knew
to be the safest way of departure because the least guarded. Twenty or
thirty yards from the fort he lay among the bushes and listened. He was
full of confidence and eager for his task. Rest and sleep had restored
all his strength. He had his fine rifle, a renewed supply of ammunition,
and had no fear of either the wilderness or the darkness.
He crept down through the bushes much nearer to the bank, and he saw a
half dozen Indian canoes moving slowly up and down the river not far
from the shore. They were patrols. The warriors did not intend to be
surprised by another dash from the fort. Henry indulged himself in
silent laughter. His comrades and he had certainly put a spoke in the
savage wheel.
He watched the boats a few moments and in one of them he saw two white
faces that he recognized. They belonged to Braxton Wyatt and
Blackstaffe. Again Henry laughed silently. He remembered the look on
Braxton Wyatt's face when he threw him into the Ohio. But Wyatt deserved
much more than to be hurled into muddy water, and the villain,
Blackstaffe, was worse because he was older, knew more, and had done
more crime. Henry raised his rifle a little. From the point where he lay
he might reach Blackstaffe with a bullet, but he could not do it. He
could not shoot a man from ambush.
He moved carefully along the side of the cliff down the river. It was
steep footing, but it would be perhaps impossible to pass anywhere else,
and he proceeded with slowness, lest he set a pebble rolling or make the
bushes rattle. He reached the place where they had scrambled ashore
after burning the flatboat and he paused there a moment. His mind
returned to the two mysterious shots that had saved them. Could he have
been mistaken in his surmise, and could it have been Shif'less Sol and
Tom Ross or perhaps Long Jim who had fired the timely bullets?
He was not one to spend his time in guesses that could not be answered,
and he resumed his advance, increasing his speed as the cliff became
less precipitous. It was an average night, not a black protecting one,
and he knew that he must practice great caution. He intended when
further down to swim the river, but it was not yet safe to expose
himself there, and he clung to the southern bank.
He soon had proof that all his caution was needed. He heard a soft
footstep and quietly sank down in the bushes. A Miami sentinel passed
within twenty feet of him, and the boy did not rise again until he was
out of sight. Twenty yards further he saw another, and then the glow of
lights came through the trees. He knew it to be an Indian camp fire,
although the warriors themselves were hidden from him by a swell of the
earth. But he felt an intense desire to see this fire, or rather those
about it. It was a legitimate wish, as any information that he might
obtain would be valuable for the return--and he intended to return.
He crept to a point near the crest of the swell, and then he lay very
close, glad that the bushes there were so thick and that they hid him so
well. Six men were coming and he recognized them. Two were white, Girty
and Blackstaffe, and there were Yellow Panther, Red Eagle, Captain Pipe,
the Delaware, and White Lightning, the great Timmendiquas of the
Wyandots. They were talking in the Shawnee tongue, which he understood
well, and despite all his experience and self-control, a tremor shook
him.
They stopped near him and continued their conversation. Every word that
they said reached the listener in the bush.
"The place was warned, as Ware said. There's no doubt of it," said Girty
viciously, nodding toward the hill on which stood Fort Prescott. "His
boast was true. Braxton Wyatt knows him. He was tossed by him into
twenty feet of the Ohio. It must have been worth seeing."
Girty laughed. He could take a malignant pleasure in the misfortune of
an ally. Henry also saw the white teeth of Timmendiquas gleam as his
lips curved into a smile. But in him the appeal was to a sense of humor,
not to venom. He seemed to have little malice in his nature.
"It is so," said Timmendiquas in Shawnee. "It was certainly the one
called Ware, a bold youth, and powerful. It was wonderful the way in
which he broke through our lines at the running of the gantlet and
escaped. He must be a favorite of Manitou."
"Favorite of Manitou! It was his arms and legs that got him away,"
snarled Girty.
His tone was insolent, domineering, and the dark eyes of Timmendiquas
were turned upon him.
"I said he was a favorite of Manitou," he said, and his words were edged
with steel. "Our friend, Girty, thinks so, too."
His hand slipped down toward the handle of his tomahawk, but it was the
eye more than the hand that made the soul of Girty quail.
"It must be as you say, Timmendiquas," he replied, smoothly. "He surely
seemed to have been helped by some great power, but it's been a bad
thing for us. If he hadn't come, we could have taken Fort Prescott with
our first rush. Then with our cannon on the hill we could have stopped
this fleet which is coming."
"I have heard that in the far South this fleet beat another fleet which
had cannon," said Timmendiquas.
"Yes," said Girty. "Braxton Wyatt was there and saw it done. Red men and
white were allied, and they had a ship of their own, but it was blown up
in the battle. But here our cannon would have been on a hill. It is a
long way to Canada and we cannot send there for more."
"We can win without cannon," said White Lightning with dignity. "Do you
think that all the nations and all the chiefs of the great valley are
assembling here merely for failure? Have we not already held back the
white man's fleet?"
"We've certainly held it for a few days," replied Girty, "but we've not
taken Fort Prescott."
"We will take it," said Timmendiquas.
Henry listened with the greatest eagerness. He did not wish to miss a
word. Now he understood why the fleet had not come. It had been delayed
in some manner, probably by rifle fire at narrow portions of the river,
and it would be the tactics of Timmendiquas to beat it and the fort
separately. It would be his task to bring them together and defeat
Timmendiquas instead. Yet he felt all his old admiration and liking for
the great young chief of the Wyandots. The other chiefs were no mean
figures, but he towered above them all, and he had the look of a king, a
king by nature, not by birth.
Henry hoped that they would stay and talk longer, that he might hear
more of their plans, but they walked away toward the camp fire, where he
could not follow, and, rising from the bushes, he passed swiftly between
the fire and the river, pursuing his journey down stream. He saw two
more Indian sentinels, but they did not see him, and when he looked back
the flare of the camp fire was gone.
Two miles below the fort the river curved. No watching canoe would be
likely to be there, and Henry thought it would be a good place to swim
the river. He was about to prepare himself for his task, when by the
moonlight, which was now clear, he saw the print of footsteps in the
soft earth near the shore. There was a trail evidently made by two men.
It ran over the soft earth twenty feet, perhaps, and was then lost among
the bushes.
He examined the footsteps carefully and he was sure that they were made
by white men and within the hour. He crouched among the bushes and
uttered a faint, whining cry like the suppressed howl of a wolf. It was
a cry literally sent into the dark, but he took the chance. A similar
cry came back from a point not very far away, and he moved toward it. He
heard a light rustle among the bushes and leaves and he stopped, lying
down in order that he might be hidden and, at the same time, watch.
Henry was quite convinced that those who made the footprints had also
made the noise, and he was still sure that they were white men. They
might be renegades, but he did not think so. Renegades were few in
number, and they were likely at such a time to stay closely in the
Indian camp. He was puzzled for a little while how to act. He might
stalk these strangers and they might stalk him in the darkness for hours
without either side ascertaining a single fact concerning the identity
of the other. He decided upon a bold policy and called loudly: "Who is
there?"
His was unmistakably a white voice, the voice of a white Anglo-Saxon,
and back came the reply in the same good English of the white man: "Who
are you?"
"A friend from the Kentucky settlements," replied Henry, and stood up.
Two figures, also, rose from the brush, and after a few moments'
inspection advanced.
Henry could scarcely restrain a cry of pleasure as he recognized the
men. They were Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton. Boone laughed in his
quiet, low way as they came forward.
"About to take another night swim in the Ohio, Indians or no Indians?"
he said.
Henry understood at once. It was these two who had saved them; the
timely bullets had come from the rifles of these famous borderers.
"We owe our lives to you and Mr. Kenton, Mr. Boone," he said, grasping
the hand that Daniel Boone held out to him.
Boone laughed again in his quiet fashion. No sound came from his lips,
but his face quivered with mirth.
"You certainly were a good swimmer," he said. "I never saw a fellow walk
through the water faster in my life."
"We had every reason to swim fast," said Henry with a smile.
"Don't say anything more about our savin' you," said Daniel Boone. "It's
what anybody else in our place ought to have done an' would have done.
We've been hangin' around the fort havin' worned another place first,
waitin' for a chance to help. Some hunters are comin' up from the South
and we expect to join them to-morrow, but we won't be strong enough to
do much."
"All the tribes are here, are they not?" asked Henry.
"Bands from 'em all are here. They must have two or three thousand
warriors scattered around Fort Prescott. I reckon I can tell you where
most of the big bands are placed."
The three sat down on the ground and talked low. Henry felt greatly
encouraged by the presence of these two men, so skillful and so
renowned. Watchful sentinels, but little could evade them, and they
would be a source of valuable strength to fort and fleet alike.
"You saw Timmendiquas?" said Boone.
"Yes, he is here," said Henry, "and he is leading the attack."
"Then our people have got to look out," said Boone emphatically. "We'll
watch around here the best way we can while you go on with what you're
tryin' to do."
He held out his hand again as Henry rose to depart. For a man who lived
a life of constant danger and who had passed through so many great
adventures, he had a singularly gentle and winning manner. Henry's
admiration and respect were mingled with a deep liking. He would have
referred again to the saving of his life, but he knew that the great
borderer would not like it.
"Good-by, Mr. Boone," he said, and their hands met in a hearty clasp. He
and Kenton also bade farewell in the same friendly manner, and then
Henry went down to the river.
"We'll watch again," said Boone, laughing in his dry way; "you can't
tell when you'll need us."