re there is almost no twilight
at all. Sam made his companions lie down at the approach of the savages,
and as soon as it was fairly dark, the little party crept silently away.
Before leaving, however, Sam had heard enough of the conversation
between Weatherford and Peter McQueen, the other great half-breed
warrior, to know that he could not reach the fort that night. The two
half-breeds talked most of the time in English, and Sam learned that
they had a large body of Indians in the vicinity, who were scouring the
country around Fort Glass. Sam knew enough of Indian warfare to know
that there would be numerous small parties of savage scouts lurking
immediately around the fort day and night, for the purpose of picking
off any daring whites who might venture outside the gates, and
especially any messenger who might attempt to pass from that to any
other fortress. He knew, therefore, that for some time to come it would
be impossible to reach Fort Glass, and penetrating the woods for a
considerable distance he stopped and sat down on a log, burying his face
in his hands, and telling his companions not to speak to him, as he
wanted to think.

CHAPTER V.

SAM'S FORTRESS.

Sam's companions kept perfectly still. Their reverence for Sam had grown
with every foot of their travels, and their confidence in his ability to
get out of any difficulty, and ultimately to accomplish his purposes in
the face of any obstacle, was now quite unbounded. And so, when he told
them it was impossible to reach the fort and that he wanted to think,
they patiently awaited the results of his thinking, confident that he
would presently hit upon precisely the right thing to do.

After a while he raised his head from his hands and said:

"Come on, we must get clear away from here before morning;" but he said
not a word about where he was going. His course was now nearly
south-east, and just as the day was breaking he stopped and said:

"There is the river at last. Now let's go to sleep."

They obeyed him unquestioningly, though they had not the faintest idea
where they were or what river it was which he had seen a little way
ahead. When Sam waked it was nearly noon, and he ate a little of the
palmetto cabbage left in his pockets, while the others slept. His face
was very pale, however, and he sat very still until his companions
aroused themselves. Then he explained.

"When I found that we could not get to Fort Glass, the question was,
w