his was no timid heart.
Smoke of the battle drifted among the trees or over the river, and the
rain did not drive it all away. In the far distance low thunder muttered,
and now and then flashes of heat lightning drew a belt of coppery red
along the dark horizon.

Adam Colfax, stern man that he was, shuddered. But he would not flinch. He
was the first to spring ashore. The forest assumed its most somber aspect.
The trees were weird and ghostly, and there was no sound at all but the
gentle drip, drip of the rain. Here the vapors and mists seemed to be
imprisoned by the boughs and foliage, and the odors were heavy and acrid.

He had landed upon a little neck of land, and some one remarked: "It was
here that the Kentuckians landed." But there was no sound in the forest
and the scouts had reported already that the enemy had gone away. A great
fear gripped at the heart of Adam Colfax. "They are all dead," he thought.

Men brought torches, as they no longer had any fear of sharpshooters; and
Adam Colfax, followed by twenty others, entered the forest. The wind rose
slightly and whipped the rain in his face, but he stepped into the
deepest shadow, and, taking a torch from one of the men, held it aloft
with his own hand. The light fell upon a little open space and, despite
himself, Adam Colfax uttered a cry.

A figure lay outstretched under the shelter of arching boughs and bushes,
and four more beside it were still and silent, leaning against a fallen
log. There was such an absolute lack of motion, that Colfax at first
thought that the soul of every one was sped.

"Good God! Dead! All dead!" he exclaimed.

But a great figure quickly uprose.

"No," said Henry Ware, a fine smile passing over his boyish face. "We beat
them off, and we're just resting and waiting. Only Paul is seriously hurt,
and so far we've been afraid to move him."

Shif'less Sol, Jim Hart, and Tom Ross rose, too, and shook the raindrops
from their clothes.

"We didn't have good shelter here," said Shif'less Sol, "but I think the
rain and its coolness have helped Paul."

Adam Colfax bent over the boy and, in the dawning light, made a critical
examination.

"He will live," he said. "We'd have come to your relief long ago, had we
known you were here."

"It was Braxton Wyatt who led the last attack against us," said Henry,
"and as usual, he has had the good luck to escape. At least, we can't find
his body here, and I haven't the slightest doubt that he