nto the Mississippi."

"And what becomes ob dat?"

"It empties into the Gulf of Mexico, which joins the Atlantic Ocean."

"And dat runs along de oder side ob Wirginny, I hab heard."

"Yes, such is the fact."

"I've an idee; let's put out in de middle ob dis riber, and go scootin'
down de Massipp to de Gulf ob Mexico, and den up de ocean to Wirginny;
dar we'll carry de flatboat ober land till we strike de Ohio ag'in, and
den come down to de block-house from de oder side. It'll be a
round-about way, but we'll got dar, suah."

CHAPTER XXV.

FACE TO FACE.

Two white men had set out to do whatever lay in their power to rescue
little Mabel Ashbridge from the hands of the Shawanoes, and their policy
was diametrically opposed to each other.

Simon Kenton, it may be said, had but one law--that of fighting fire
with fire. Against cunning, woodcraft and daring he would array
precisely the same weapons. In short, he knew of no other method, and
would have laughed to scorn any different line of procedure, with the
single exception of its attempt by the one man who now resorted to it.

Mr. Finley, the missionary, knowing the futility of the course laid down
by Kenton, Boone and those of his calling, determined to go directly
into the camp of The Panther, and try to induce the fiery chieftain to
surrender the little girl to her friends.

What task could be more hopeless?

The unquenchable hatred of Wa-on-mon toward all who belonged to the
Caucasian race has been learned long ago by the reader. He belonged to
the most untamable of his people, and had proven a continual
stumbling-block in the path of the missionary. He shut his ears
resolutely against the pleadings of the good man, and forbade him to
speak to him of the God who taught gentleness, charity, love and the
forgiveness of enemies.

And yet, as Finley told Jethro Juggens, he had hunted with The Panther,
slept in his lodge and trusted his life in his hands many times, and
under ordinary circumstances would not hesitate to do so again.

But those were periods when comparative peace reigned on the frontier,
and the missionary, like many others of his sacred calling, found little
trouble in passing back and forth among the Shawanoes, Wyandots,
Pottawatomies, Delawares and other tribes. Indeed, many converts were
gained, as was shown in the case of the Moravian Indians.

When hostilities broke out, however, and the fierce red men daubed their
faces with p