for he now turned and looked
toward the cabin. This brought his face into full view, and the glimpse
which the white man caught from a peep around the edge of the bark
showed the warrior to be a stranger.

Kenton's position enabled him to see the log cabin as clearly as did the
Shawanoe, but it was impossible to detect anything to justify his
interest in the building. The situation had become so peculiar that all
the sagacity of the ranger was insufficient for him to decide upon the
best course to pursue.

Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed, during which the warrior, sitting on
the ground, with his back against the tree, remained as motionless as
did The Panther, when a prisoner the night before on the flatboat.

"I'm blessed if I don't believe he's asleep," mused Kenton.

Nothing is easier than for a person to pretend unconsciousness, but in
this case the white man could think of no reason for the red man doing
that.

"Shod with silence," as Simon Kenton or his brothers were when threading
their way among the forest shadows, he stepped from behind the tree and
began moving toward the long, graceful canoe, whose nose rested against
the bank.

His course took him near the Shawanoe, and he paused while yet several
paces to the rear. The hostile was at his mercy. He could drive the life
from his body with lightning-like suddenness.

"That isn't the way for a Christian to fight," concluded Kenton, making
such an abrupt change in his course that the distance between the two
was increased.

The pose of the Indian was the natural one of a sleeper. His back being
against the trunk of a tree, his knees were drawn up, with his arms
resting upon them. His long rifle reclined against the same support as
his body, his knife and tomahawk were in place in the girdle around the
waist of his half-naked person, his head was sunk, with the chin resting
on his chest, and his coarse, black hair dangling in front or behind his
shoulders.

As he sat thus, his face was turned partly away from the canoe. Kenton's
course took him past the sleeper, whose eyes, as he noted, were closed.
All doubt of his being unconscious were removed, since no reason was
conceivable for any pretence on his part.

Fortune held the promise of a rare and remarkable triumph. It has been
said that the canoe rested so lightly against the banks that only a very
slight force was required to release and let it float down stream.

If, therefore, the Shawanoe s