as silvering the waves of the river when the boat was lifted
from the ground, and the journey resumed.

The little party kept from the stream for fear of being seen by any
foes, but near enough to hear any voice which might arise from its
banks.

They indulged in the fond hope of encountering some of Wayne's scouts
who were known to be scouting in the vicinity, and the settler trusted
that he would fall in with Wells, with whom he was intimately
acquainted. But the sun approached his meridian without bringing
incident or misfortune to the little band who pushed resolutely through
the forest toward the distant goal.

"Are you ready to fulfill your part of the promise, George?" said Carl
Merriweather to his cousin at the noonday rest held beneath the shade of
a great tree.

George Darling looked up and saw the youth's face glowing with
excitement. His eyes seemed to emit sparks of fire.

"What do you mean, Carl?" he said.

"Why, what we promised one another this morning--that we would kill the
first redskin we laid our eyes on."

"Yes. Where is one?"

"Come with me."

George Darling rose, and the two left the camp together.

"There be two of them," the settler's son said, "and they are at the
river; I saw them not five minutes since. A good shot, George. I'll take
one, you the other."

The eager couple glided toward the river, and the youth all at once
pulled his cousin's sleeve and told him to halt.

"There they are!" he cried excitedly, pointing towards the stream.
"Look! do you not see them in the tree top? Real Indians, George, and no
mistake. What on earth can they be doing? They are up to their knees in
water."

George Darling did not reply, but continued to gaze at the two persons
in the tree top which lay in the water. Their skin proclaimed them
savages; but they seemed to be washing--a thing which no Indian warrior
ever does. Hence the spectators' perplexity.

"Come, George, we can't wait on them," said the impatient Carl. "Beside,
they will miss us at the camp. Now, let us give the rascals a little
lead. Remember our promise to let no Indian escape our rifles."

The young man heard his cousin, and, a partaker of his excitement,
grasped his rifle.

"The little fellow on the right," Carl said without taking his eyes from
the couple in the tree top. "Leave the other one for me. He is as tall
as a Virginia bean-pole."

The victims of the pair were not fifty yards away. Unconscious of the
pres