ur opinion, Sol? Who do you think will be the next
leader to come against us?"

"Red Eagle an' the Shawnees. I'm thinkin' they're curvin' out now to
trap us, an' that Red Eagle is a mighty crafty fellow."

They trod out the coals, threw some dead leaves over them, and took a
course toward the northeast. It seemed pretty safe to assume that the
ring of warriors was thickest in the south, and that they might slip
through in the north. Time and distance were of little importance to
them, and they felt able to find their rations as they went in the
forest.

They had been traveling about an hour at the easy walk of the border,
when they heard a long cry behind them.

"They've found the dead coals o' our fire," said Shif'less Sol.

"Which means that they're not so far away," said Paul.

"But we've been comin' over rocky ground, an' the trail ain't picked up
so easy. An' we might make it a lot harder by wadin' a while up this
branch."

The brook fortunately led in the direction in which they wished to go.
They walked in it a full half mile, and as it had a sandy bottom their
footprints vanished almost at once. When they emerged at last they heard
the long cry again, now from a point toward the east, and then a distant
answer from a point in the west. Shif'less Sol laughed with intense
enjoyment.

"Guessin'! Jest guessin'!" he said. "They've found the dead coals an'
they know that we wuz thar once, but that now we ain't, an' it's not
whar we wuz but whar we ain't that's botherin' 'em."

"Still," said Paul, "the more distance we put between them and us the
better I, for one, will like it."

"You're right, Paul," said Shif'less Sol. "I guess we'd better shake our
feet to a lively tune."

They increased their walk to a trot, and fled through the great forest.

CHAPTER VI

THE OASIS

The five continued their flight all that day, seeing no enemies and
hearing no further signal from them. But Henry knew intuitively that the
warriors were still in pursuit. They would spread out in every
direction, and some one among them would, in time, pick up the trail.
After a while, they permitted their own gait to sink to an easy walk,
but they did not veer from their northeastern course. Henry, all the
time, was a keen observer of the country, and he noticed with pleasure
the change that was occurring.

They were coming to a low sunken land, cut by many streams, nearly all
sluggish and muddy. The season had been rainy