ands and faces the stains of battle, now drew nigh, snuffing the perfume
of a dinner with as much ardour as they could have bestowed on the scent
of battle. The haunch, cooked to their hands, was straightway removed to
a convenient place, where all, drawing their knives, fell foul with an
energy of appetite and satisfaction that left them oblivious of most
sublunary affairs. The soldier forgot his sorrows, and Nathan forgot
little Peter,--though little Peter, by suddenly creeping out of the
bushes on the hill, and crawling humbly to the table, and his master's
side, made it apparent he had not forgot himself. As for the captain of
horse-thieves, he forgot everything save the dinner itself, which he
attacked with an appetite well nigh ravenous, having, as he swore, by way
of grace over the first mouthful, eaten nothing save roots and leaves for
more than three days. It was only when, by despatching at least twice his
share of the joint, he began to feel, as he said, "summat like a hoss
and a gentleman," that the others succeeded in drawing from him a full
account of the circumstances which had attended his solitary inroad into
the Indian country and his fall into the clutches of the Shawnee party.

But little had the faithful fellow to impart, beyond what he had already
told. Galloping from the fatal hill, the scene of defeat to the young
Kentuckians, he sustained Tom Bruce in his arms, until the latter,
reviving, had recovered strength enough to provide for his own safety;
upon which Ralph, with a degree of Quixotism, that formed a part of his
character, and which was, in this instance, strengthened by his grateful
devotion to Edith, the saver of his life, declared he would pursue the
trail of her captors, even if it led him to their village, nor cease his
efforts until he had rescued her out of their hands, or laid down his
life in her service. In this resolution he was encouraged by Bruce, who
swore on his part, that he would instantly follow with his father, and
all the men he could raise, recover the prisoners, and burn the towns of
the whole Shawnee nation about their ears; a determination he was perhaps
the more readily driven to by the reflection that the unlucky captives
were his father's individual guests, and had been snatched away while
still, in a manner, under, or relying on, his father's protection. So
much he promised, and so much there was no doubt he would, if able,
perform; nevertheless, he exhorted Ralp