its successor, is in session you are its
presiding officer."

"If that's the wish of the rest of you," said Henry.

"It is!" they said all together.

Henry, like Paul, was sitting on his doubled blanket with his back
against the stony wall. Jim Hart, his long legs crossed, occupied a
similar position, and, by the flickering light of the fire, Shif'less
Sol and Silent Tom, wrapped in their blankets, looked in truth like
Roman senators.

"Will you tell us, Henry, what you found out while we wuz away?" asked
the shiftless one. Henry had made a scouting expedition while the two
were gone for the powder and lead.

"I made one journey across the Ohio," replied their chief, "and at
night I went near a Shawnee village. Red Eagle was there, and so were
Blackstaffe and Wyatt. Lying in the bushes near the fire by which they
sat, I could catch enough of their talk to learn that the Shawnee and
Miami nations are going to bend all their energies and powers to our
destruction. That is settled."

"I feel a heap flattered," said Shif'less Sol, "that so many warriors
should be sent ag'inst us, who are only five. What wuz it that old
feller was always sayin', Paul, every time he held up a bunch o' fresh
figs before the noses o' the Roman senators?"

"_Delenda est Carthago_, which is Latin, Sol, and it means just now,
when I give it a liberal translation, that we five must be wiped clean
off the face of the earth."

"I've heard you say often, Paul, that Latin was a dead language, an' so
all them old dead sayin's won't hev any meanin' fur us. I kin live long
on the threats o' Braxton Wyatt an' Blackstaffe, an' so kin all o' us.
But go on, Henry. I 'pologize fur interruptin' the presidin' officer."

"I learned all I could there," continued Henry, "but I was able to
gather only their general intention, that is their resolve to crush us,
a plan that both Wyatt and Blackstaffe urged. However, when I trailed a
large band two days later, and crept near their camp, I discovered
more."

"What wuz it?" exclaimed the shiftless one, leaning forward a little,
his face showing tense and eager in the glow of the flames.

"They're going to spread a net for us. Not one body of warriors will
seek us, but many. Red Eagle will lead a band, Yellow Panther will be
at the head of another, Braxton Wyatt will be in charge of a third,
Blackstaffe will take a fourth, and there will be at least seven or
eight more, though some of them may unite later.