d within the enclosure as silently
as if he had risen from the very earth. He sat down on the ground to
consult with Hastings after his arrival had been made known to the rest.
He would have willingly talked to them all, had it been feasible, but
the exciting incidents a brief time before proved that not a man could
be spared from his station. There was no certainty as to the schemes of
the Shawanoes, and nothing less than the utmost vigilance could save the
fugitives.

"What do you think of things?" inquired Hastings, the moment they were
alone.

"They look bad--powerful bad; fact is, I don't see how they could look
much worse."

"How did you make out?"

"Didn't make out at all," growled the ranger, not yet recovered from his
keen disappointment; "I went back to the clearin', and yanked out that
canoe from right under the nose of one of them varmints; when I had
fetched it purty near here, I left it a few minutes to reckynoiter, and
when I went back I'll be hanged if the same varmint hadn't yanked it
back agin."

He made no reference to the first affair, which resulted in a fatal
failure to the Indian attempting it. That didn't count in the light of
the success which followed it.

"Of course, you hadn't any chance of getting it back again, or you'd
done it?"

"You're correct; it was growing dark, and, though I hunted powerful
lively for the varmint, I didn't get the first show for drawin' a bead
on him."

"You said somethin' about another canoe of your'n that you hed among the
bushes some time ago, near where we are now."

"I found the spot, but didn't find no canoe; the varmints had been ahead
of me; I shouldn't wonder, now, if the boat which I seed comin' over
from the Ohio side was the identical craft that I was looking for."

Kenton indulged in a forceful exclamation, for the occasion was one of
the rare ones in which his chagrin and self disgust became intolerable.
Nevertheless, he was very much of a philosopher, and soon talked with
all his self-possession, betraying a hopeful vein in his composition
which did much to sustain him in the great trials to which he was
subjected in later years.

"I counted on two boats," he added, "and did git one; now, I haven't got
any. But it don't do any good to kick."

"No," assented his companion; "we must make the best of it."

"Though there doesn't seem to be any 'best' about the bus'ness. Haven't
heard anything of Boone since I left you?"

"Not a word."