y, flyin' right over our heads! He must weigh fifty pounds
ef he weighs an ounce, an' his wattles are a wonder to look at. An' I
kin see him lookin' right down at me, ez he passes an' I kin hear him
sayin': 'I ain't afeared o' you, Sol Hyde, even ef you hev got a gun in
your hand. I kin fly low over your head, so low that I'll brush you with
my wings, and with my red wattles, which are a wonder to see, an' you
dassn't fire. I've got you where I want you, Sol Hyde. I ain't afeard
o' anything but Injuns tonight.'"

Shif'less Sol's words were so lugubrious that Henry was compelled to
laugh under his breath. It did look like an injustice of fate, when
hunters so keen as they, were compelled to lie quiet, while wild turkeys
in hundreds flew over their heads, and although the shiftless one may
have exaggerated a little about the king gobbler, Henry saw that many of
them were magnificent specimens of their kind. Yet to lie and stir not
was the price of life, as they soon saw.

Indians came running through the great grove, discharging arrows at the
turkeys, many of which flew low, and the air was filled with the
twanging of bow strings. Not a rifle or musket was fired, the warriors
seeming to rely wholly upon their ancient weapons for this night hunt.
They appeared to be in high good humor, too, as the two crouching scouts
heard them laughing and chattering as they picked up the fallen birds,
and then sent arrows in search of more.

Shif'less Sol became more and more uneasy. Here was a grand hunt going
well forward and he not a part of it. Instead he had to crouch among
bushes and flatten himself against the soil like an earthworm, while the
twanging of the bows made music, and the eager shouts stirred every
vein.

The hunt swept off to the westward. The dusky figures of warriors and
turkeys disappeared in the brush, and Henry and Shif'less Sol, ceasing
to be earthworms, rose to their knees.

"They didn't see us," said the shiftless one, "but it was hard to stay
hid."

"But here we are alive and safe. Now, I think, Sol, we'd better go on
straight toward their camp, but keep a lookout at the same time for
those fellows, when they come back."

They could not hear the twang of bowstrings now, but the shouts still
came to them, though much softened by the distance. Presently they too
died away, and with silence returning to the forest Henry and Shif'less
Sol stood upright. They listened only a moment or two, and then advanc