been made at the mouth of the creek, but the savages had spread out,
and some of them were due east from us.

"There's a heap of 'em!" whispered Cousin. "Lucky for us they didn't fetch
any dawgs along, or we'd be smelled out an' have to leg it."

"I hear squaws talking."

"Kiss the devil if you don't! There's boys' voices, too. They've fetched
their squaws an' boys along to knock the wounded an' dyin' in the head."

"Then that means they feel sure of winning."

And my heart began thumping until I feared its beating would be audible at
a distance. And before my inner gaze appeared a picture of Lewis' army
defeated and many victims being given over to the stake.

"Keep shet!" cautioned Cousin. "There it is again! A Mingo talkin', a
Seneca, I'd say--Hear that jabber! Delaware--Wyandot--Taway (Ottawa). With
a blanket o' Shawnee pow-wow. By heavens, Morris! This is Cornstalk's
whole force. They've learned that Dunmore is at the Hockhockin' an' will
be j'inin' up with Lewis any day, an' old Cornstalk thinks to lick Lewis
afore Dunmore's men can git along!"

It was now after midnight, and I knew we should be back at camp and
warning Colonel Lewis of his peril. I knew from my last talk with him that
he did not expect to meet the Indians in any numbers until we had crossed
the Ohio. Our failure to find any Indians at the Point and our prospects
for an immediate crossing conduced to this belief.

The day before all the scouts had been instructed as to our maneuvers once
we crossed the river and were searching for ambushes. It was terrible to
think of our army asleep only three miles away. I urged an immediate
return, but Cousin coolly refused to go until he had reconnoitered
further.

"You stay here till I've sneaked down to the mouth o' the creek," he
whispered. "'Twon't do for both of us to git killed an' leave no one to
take the word to Lewis."

"But why run any risk?" I anxiously demanded; for I feared he had some mad
prank in mind which would betray our presence and perhaps stop our warning
to the army.

"We must l'arn somethin' as to how many o' the red skunks there be," he
replied.

"To venture near their camp will mean discovery. They're very
wide-awake."

"I ain't goin' near their camp," he growled in irritation. "I want to look
over them rafts. I can tell from them how many warriors come over, or
pretty close to it."

He slipped away and left me to do the hardest of the work--the work of
waiting. It se