can hold together till then we can beat 'em."

The army, although kept in a body, was numbered in detachments. Adam
Colfax took the lead of one, Major Braithwaite another, Boone another,
while Drouillard, Thrale, and all the other prominent men also had
commands. The five, Kenton, and the scouts led the advance.

Once more they took up their progress through the woods, and pressed
swiftly on toward the Indian camp. It was one of those darkest hours
before the dawn, and so many men marching at a rapid pace, could not
keep from making considerable noise. Bushes rustled, arms rattled, and
dry sticks broke with a snap beneath heavy feet.

"On, men! on!" cried Adam Colfax. "We can't be slow now!"

A dog howled, and then another. An Indian sentinel fired his rifle, and
then a second and a third did the same. The white vanguard replied, and
then with a great shout the army rushed toward the Indian force.

But Timmendiquas was not wholly surprised. His men, posted in a circle
around the camp, gave the alarm as they fell back, firing their rifles,
and uttering the long Indian yell. Hundreds of throats took it up, and
the savages, seizing their weapons, sprang forth to the conflict. In a
moment, the woods were filled with sparkling flames, and the bullets
whistled in showers. There were shouts and cries and a rain of twigs cut
off by the bullets in the darkness.

The five and Kenton fell back upon the main body and then rushed on with
them, keeping in the front line.

"Let's keep together! Whatever happens, let's keep together!" cried
Shif'less Sol, and the others in reply shouted their assent. They were
compelled to shout now, because hundreds of rifles were cracking, and
the roar was swelling fast. Innumerable flashes lit up the forest, and a
cloud of fine gray powder rose, stinging the nostrils of the combatants,
and, like an exciting narcotic, urging them on to action.

The first rush of the white army bore all before it. The Indian
sentinels and the others who constituted the fringe of their band were
rapidly driven in on the main body, and many of the soldiers and hunters
began to shout in triumph as they reached the edge of the prairie and
saw their foe, huddled in dark masses beyond. But as they came into the
open they met a strong core of resistance that soon hardened and spread.

The great chief, Timmendiquas, although partly surprised by the swift
attack of the whites, did not lose either his presence of mind