wonderful world that we have here," he said, "and just to think
that we're among the first white men to find out what it contains."

"All ready!" said Tom Ross, "then forward we go, we mustn't waste time
by the way. They need that salt at Wareville."

Once more they resumed the march in Indian file and amid the silence of
the woods. About the middle of the afternoon Ross invited Mr.
Pennypacker and the two boys to ride three of the pack horses. Henry at
first declined, not willing to be considered soft and pampered, but as
the schoolmaster promptly accepted and Paul who was obviously tired did
the same, he changed his mind, not because he needed rest, but lest Paul
should feel badly over his inferiority in strength.

Thus they marched steadily northward, Ross leading the way, and
Shif'less Sol who was lazy at the settlement, but never in the woods
where he was inferior in knowledge and skill to Ross only, covering the
rear. Each of these accomplished borderers watched every movement of the
forest about him, and listened for every sound; he knew with the eye of
second sight what was natural and if anything not belonging to the usual
order of things should appear, he would detect it in a moment. But they
saw and heard nothing that was not according to nature: only the wind
among the boughs, or the stamp of an elk's hoof as it fled, startled at
the scent of man. The hostile tribes from north and south, fearful of
the presence of each other, seemed to have deserted the great wilderness
of Kentucky.

Henry noted the beauty of the country as they passed along; the gently
rolling hills, the rich dark soil and the beautiful clear streams. Once
they came to a river, too deep to wade, but all of them, except the
schoolmaster, promptly took off their clothing and swam it.

"My age and my calling forbid my doing as the rest of you do," said the
schoolmaster, "and I think I shall stick to my horse."

He rode the biggest of the pack horses, and when the strong animal began
to swim, Mr. Pennypacker thrust out his legs until they were almost
parallel with the animal's neck, and reached the opposite bank,
untouched by a drop of water. No one begrudged him his dry and unlabored
passage; in fact they thought it right, because a schoolmaster was
mightily respected in the early settlements of Kentucky and they would
have regarded it as unbecoming to his dignity to have stripped, and swum
the river as they did.

Henry and Paul in thei