o the fort.

The gate was thrown open again, and the three forces passed in, there to
receive the welcome that is given only by those who have been saved from
what looked like certain death. The scout and the others who knew him
gave Henry Ware the hearty clasp of the hand that means so much, and
then the five went to a cabin to eat, rest and sleep.

"We'll need you to-morrow," said Adam Colfax, "but meanwhile you must
refresh yourselves."

"That sounds mighty good to a tired man," said Shif'less Sol in his
whimsical tone. "I never worked so hard in my life before ez I hev
lately, an' I think I need to rest for the next three or four years."

"But we got through, Sol, we got through, don't furgit that," said Long
Jim. "I'd rather cook than fight. Uv course, I'm always anxious about
the vittles, but I ain't plum' skeered to death over 'em."

"Reminds me I'm hungry," said Shif'less Sol. "Like you, Jim, I furgot
about it when I wuz down thar on the river, fightin', but I'm beginnin'
to feel it now. Wonder ef they'll give us anything."

Sol's wish was fulfilled as a woman brought them abundant food, corn
bread, venison, buffalo meat, and coffee. When it came they sat down in
the home-made chairs of the cabin, and all of them uttered great sighs
of relief, drawn up from the bottom of their hearts.

"I'm goin' to eat fur two or three hours," said the shiftless one,
fastening an eager eye upon a splendid buffalo steak, "an' then I'm
goin' to sleep on them robes over thar. Ef anybody wakes me up before
the last uv next week he'll hev a mighty good man to whip, I kin tell
you."

Eager hand followed eager eye. He lifted the steak and set to, and his
four faithful comrades did the same. They ate, also, of the venison and
the corn bread with the appetite that only immense exertions give, and
they drank with tin cups from a bucket of clear cold water. There was
silence for a quarter of an hour, and then Shif'less Sol was the first
to break it.

"I didn't think I could ever be so happy ag'in," he said in tones of
great content.

"Nor me, either," said Jim Hart, uttering a long, happy sigh. "I declar'
to goodness, I'm a new man, plum' made over from the top uv my head to
the heels an' toes uv my feet."

"And that's a good deal of a man, six feet four, at least," said Paul.

"It's true," repeated Long Jim. "I'm like one uv them thar Greek
demigods Paul tells about. Now an' then I change myself into a new
figger, each mor