and go back to their villages."

Alloway's face grew red with anger, but he had enough wisdom and
resolution to suppress it. He looked around at the vast and somber
forest, in which one could be lost so easily, and knew that he must do
so.

"Very well," he said, "the chiefs and I lead jointly. Ask them what they
want."

Wyatt talked with the two chiefs and then translated:

"They wish to stop here a day or two, until they can obtain new supplies
of food. They wish to send out all of their best trailers in search of
the scout called Ware and his comrades. They are dangerous, and also
Yellow Panther and Red Eagle have bitter cause to hate them, as have I."

"Very well, then," said Alloway, making the best of it. "We'll halt
while the warriors brush away these wasps, whom you seem to fear so
much."

He walked away, followed by his men, and Henry and Shif'less Sol drew
back in the thicket. They were flattered by Braxton Wyatt's frank
admission of their power, but they were annoyed that the footprint had
been seen. Henry had felt that they could work much better, if the
warriors were unaware of their presence.

"Those two chiefs will act quickly," he whispered to his comrade. "Maybe
they had already sent out the trailers, before they had the talk with
the officer. It's possible that they're now between us and our new home
in the cliff. It's always best to have a plan, and if they pick up our
trail I'll run toward the east, and draw them off, while you make your
way back to Paul and Jim and our room in the cliff."

"You let me make the chase," said Shif'less Sol, protestingly. "They
can't ketch me."

"No! We've pretty well agreed upon our different tasks, and this, you
know, is mine."

The shiftless one was well aware that Henry was the most fitting, yet he
was more than anxious to take the chief danger upon himself. But he said
nothing more, as they withdrew slowly, and with the utmost caution,
through the woods. Twice, the red trailers passed near them, and they
flattened themselves against the ground to escape observation. Henry did
not believe now that they could regain the stone room without a flight
or a fight, as he was confirmed in his belief that Red Eagle and Yellow
Panther had sent out numerous trailers, before their talk with the
English colonel.

A quarter of a mile away, and they were forced to lie down in a gully
among sodden leaves and hold their breath while two Shawnees passed.
Henry saw them