the night. Heavy clouds were moving up toward the
zenith and joining in one until they covered all the heavens. Save when
the lightning flashed, both shores were hidden in the darkness. The
voyagers saw only the turbid current of the Ohio, raised into waves now
by the wind which was coming stronger and stronger.

"Rough night, but good fur us," said Tom Ross.

"And it will be rougher, also better," said Henry.

The lightning increased, blazing across the skies with dazzling
intensity, and heavy thunder rolled all around the half circle of the
horizon. The darkness turned into a bluish gray, ghostly and full of
threat. Adam Colfax went through his fleet, warning everybody to cover
up the stores and to beware of wind and wave.

The men wrapped themselves in their cloaks and protected beneath the
same cloaks their rifles and ammunition. But, despite every order, a hum
ran through the fleet, and rowers, riflemen, and guides talked in
whispers. They recalled the great double battle on the Lower
Mississippi, that of the bank and that of the bayou. The crisis now was
equally as great, and the surroundings were more ominous. They advanced
in the darkness with thunder and lightning about them, and they felt
that they were about to face the bravest of all the Indian tribes, led
by the greatest of their leaders.

The heat was succeeded by a rushing cold wind, the lightning flared
brighter than ever, and the thunder became a slow, monotonous, unbroken
roll. Paul, despite his work at the oar, shivered a little.

"She'll be here in a minute," said Tom Ross. "Be shore you fellers keep
your powder dry."

It was about midnight, and they were advancing rapidly toward the pass.
They saw by the flashes of lightning that the cliffs were rising and the
river narrowing.

"The hills on both sides here are jest covered with warriors," said Jim
Hart.

"Thar may be a million uv 'em," said Shif'less Sol, "but in the rain an'
a black night they can't shoot straight."

The wind began to whistle and its coldness increased. Great cold drops
struck the five in the face.

"Here she is!" said Tom Ross.

Then the rain swept down, not in a wild gush but steady, persistent, and
full of chill. Lightning and thunder alike ceased. Every boat saw only
the outline of the one before it and the rolling current of the Ohio
beneath it. Noise had ceased on the fleet at the stern command of Adam
Colfax and his lieutenants. The men talked only in whisper