t really be they? He winked his eyes
rapidly to clear away any motes. Yes, it was they, the four faithful
comrades with whom he had roved and hunted and fought so long. He
uttered a shout of joy and rushed toward them.

Paul's hands were shaken so often and so hard that his fingers were
numbed. A little moisture gathered on the eyelids of the sensitive boy
when he saw how glad they were to see him.

"You've found me," he said, "and it's so good to see you again that I
enjoy with you the little trick you've played on me."

"Pow'ful fine map, this o' yours, Paul," said Shif'less Sol, holding up
the sheet of bark. "'Pears to me you kin find everything on it, 'cept
whar you are."

"That was just the trouble with it, Sol," said Paul frankly. "It looked
fine to me, but I couldn't make it work."

"Well," said Henry, "here we are, together again, all five of us, ready
for anything. Isn't that so, boys, and isn't it fine?"

"Shorely," said Shif'less Sol, speaking for them all.

"Now, Paul," said Henry, "what were you trying to do?"

"I had an idea that I could reach the river," said Paul. "If I did so,
then I might be able to swim across it in the night, and take a warning
to Fort Prescott, if it wasn't too late."

"Got anything to eat left?" asked Tom Ross.

"I've had wild fruit," replied Paul, "and I shot a turkey, the last of
which went this morning, but I was hoping for more luck of that kind."

"Well," said Tom, "we, too, hev about et up all that we had. So we'll
hev to take a little hunt together. 'Twon't take long. Country's full uv
game."

They shot a deer within an hour, feasted abundantly and retained enough
more to last them several days.

"Wish we had Jim Hart's oven here," said Shif'less Sol as they ate.
"While Jim wuz waitin', Paul, he made more improvements in the art o'
cookin'."

Long Jim grinned with appreciation. It was a compliment that he liked.

"Now," said Henry, "the next thing for us to do is to find the fleet.
Mr. Boone told me that it was being held up in a narrow part of the
river by the Indian sharpshooters. I suppose that Adam Colfax doesn't
want to lose any more men for fear that he will grow short-handed before
he reaches Pittsburgh."

"But he's got to get through, an' he's got to help the fort, too," said
Shif'less Sol.

"That's so," said Henry, "and we must find him just as soon as we can."

Rising, they sped toward the southwest.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE HALTING OF TH