t--and the game, with
which forests and open alike swarmed, the deer, the elk, the bear, the
panther and the buffalo. Now and then, when the smaller children were
asleep in the wagons and the larger ones were nodding before the fires,
the men would sink their voices and speak of a subject which made them
all look very grave indeed. It sounded like Indians, and the men more
than once glanced at their rifles and powderhorns.

But the boy, when he heard them, did not feel afraid. He knew that
savages of the most dangerous kind often came into the forests of
Kentucky, whither they were going, but he thrilled rather than shivered
at the thought. Already he seemed to have the knowledge that he would be
a match for them at any game they wished to play.

Henry usually slept very soundly, as became a boy who was on his feet
nearly all day, and who did his share of the work; but two or three
times he awoke far in the night, and, raising himself up in the wagon,
peeped out between the canvas cover and the wooden body. He saw a very
black night in which the trees looked as thin and ghostly as shadows,
and smoldering fires, beside which two men rifle on shoulder, always
watched. Often he had a wish to watch with them, but he said nothing,
knowing that the others would hold him too young for the task.

But to-day he felt only joy and curiosity. They were now on the crest of
the last mountain ridge and before them lay the great valley of
Kentucky; their future home. The long journey was over. The men took off
their hats and caps and raised a cheer, the women joined through
sympathy and the children shouted, too, because their fathers and
mothers did so, Henry's voice rising with the loudest.

A slip of a girl beside Henry raised an applauding treble and he smiled
protectingly at her. It was Lucy Upton, two years younger than himself,
slim and tall, dark-blue eyes looking from under broad brows, and
dark-brown curls, lying thick and close upon a shapely head.

"Are you not afraid?" she asked.

"Afraid of what?" replied Henry Ware, disdainfully.

"Of the forests over there in Kentucky. They say that the savages often
come to kill."

"We are too strong. I do not fear them."

He spoke without any vainglory, but in the utmost confidence. She
glanced covertly at him. He seemed to her strong and full of resource.
But she would not show her admiration.

They passed from the mountain slope into a country which now sank away
in low,