o
disclose four or five warriors who had come to the edge of the swamp and
stopped. They seemed at a loss, as the mud had long since sunk back and
covered up the trail, and perhaps, also, they hesitated because of the
dreaded rifles of the two white men, which might be fired at them from
some unsuspected place. As they hesitated another figure emerged from
the background and joined them.

"Braxton Wyatt!" said Shif'less Sol. "He must hev been in the second
band that come up. Do you think I could reach him with a long shot,
Henry?"

"No, and even if you could you mustn't try. We are well hidden now, but
a shot would bring them down upon us. Let Braxton Wyatt wait. His time
will come."

"Here's hopin' that it'll come soon. I'm beginnin' to feel a sight
better, Henry. Lookin' over all that mud they don't dream that the
fellers they're lookin' fur are layin' here in this little clump o'
bushes, like two rabbits in their nests."

"They won't find us because there is no trail leading here. They'll be
searching the forests on the other side, and we can stay here until they
go away."

"Which would leave us happy ef I wuzn't so hungry. It's comin' on me
strong, Henry, that hungry feelin'. You know that I'm gen'ally a pow'ful
feeder."

"I know it, but this is a time when you'll have to resist."

"I ain't so shore. I notice that them that want things pow'ful bad an'
go after 'em pow'ful hard are most always them that gits 'em, an' that's
me tonight."

"Well, lie close, and we'll see what happens, there's Wyatt within reach
of my rifle right now, and it's a strong temptation to put a bullet into
him. The temptation is just as strong in me, Sol, as it has been in
you."

"Then why don't you do it an' take the chances? We kin git away anyhow."

"For several reasons, Sol. I doubt whether we could get away, and escape
is important not only to ourselves--I like my life and you like
yours--but to others as well. Besides, I can't draw trigger on Braxton
Wyatt from cover. Cruel as he is, and he's worse than the savages,
because he's a renegade, I can't forget that we were boys at Wareville
together."

"Still your bullet, most likely, would save the life o' many a man an'
o' women an' children too. But it's too late anyhow. He's gone, an' them
warriors hev gone with him. By the great horn spoon, what wuz that!"

They had now gone to the extreme eastern edge of their little covert and
a sudden floundering and gasping there st