in a minute," said Shif'less Sol. "He jest eats up space."

He spoke the truth, as it seemed scarcely a minute before Long Jim Hart
entered the camp, showing no sign of fatigue. The three welcomed him and
gave him a place at their breakfast fire.

"I wuz at Marlowe," he said, "when the word reached me, but I started just
an hour later. I struck your trail, Sol, two days back, an' I traveled
nearly all last night. I saw Henry join you an' then Tom."

Shif'less Sol laughed. He had a soft, mellow laugh that crinkled up the
corners of his mouth, and made his eyes shine. There was no doubt that a
man who laughed such a laugh was enjoying himself.

"I reckon you didn't have much trouble follerin' that trail o' ourn," he
said.

Jim Hart answered the laugh with a grin.

"Not much," he replied. "It was like a wagon road through the wilderness.
The ashes uv your last camp fire weren't sca'cely cold when I passed by."

"We're all here 'cept the fifth feller," said Tom Ross.

"The fifth will come," said Henry emphatically.

"Uv course," said Tom Ross with equal emphasis.

"And when he comes," said Shif'less Sol, "we take right hold o' the big
job."

They lingered awhile over their breakfast, but saw no one approaching.
Then they took up the march again, going steadily southward in single
file, talking little, but leaving a distinct trail. They were only four,
but they were a formidable party, all strong of arm, keen of eye and ear,
skilled in the lore of the forest, and every one bore the best weapons
that the time could furnish.

Toward noon the day grew very warm and clouds gathered in the sky. The
wind became damp.

"Rain," said Henry. "I'm sorry of that. I wish it wouldn't break before he
overtook us."

"S'pose we stop an' make ready," said Shif'less Sol. "You know we ain't
bound to be in a big hurry, an' it won't help any o' us to get a soakin'."

"You're shorely right, Sol," said Jim Hart. "We're bound to take the best
uv care uv ourselves."

They looked around with expert eyes, and quickly chose a stony outcrop or
hollow in the side of a hill, just above which grew two gigantic beeches
very close together. Then it was wonderful to see them work, so swift and
skillful were they. They cut small saplings with their hatchets, and, with
the little poles and fallen bark of last year, made a rude thatch which
helped out the thick branches of the beeches overhead. They also built up
the sides of the hollow with th