south, and also keep a large force in the north. If we don't stumble
upon him in a week or two our chance will be gone, at least until next
spring. All the wild fowl flew south very early and the old men and
women of the tribes have foretold the longest and hardest winter in two
generations. Is it not so, Yellow Panther?"

"The cold will be so great that all the warriors will have to seek their
wigwams," replied the Miami chief, "and they will stay there many days
and nights, hanging over the fires. The war trail will be deserted and
the Ice King will rule over the forest."

"I've no doubt the old men and old women are right," said Braxton Wyatt,
"and you make me shiver now when you tell me what they say. Perhaps the
spirits will turn over to our side and give all the five into our
hands."

They moved on out of hearing, but Henry now knew enough. His comrades
were untaken and he understood their plan of campaign. If he and the
four could evade it a little longer, a mighty winter would shut in, and
that would be the end. He was glad he had come to spy upon the host. He
had been rewarded more richly than he had hoped. Now he crept silently
away, but for a long time, whenever he looked back, he still saw the
luminous glow of the great fires on the dusky horizon.

He was so sure that no warriors would come, or, if they did come, that
his trained faculties would give him warning in time, that he slept in a
thicket within two miles of the camp. He was up before dawn and on the
southern trail, knowing that the Indian host would soon be on the same
course, though going more slowly. His trail lay to the east of that
which had led him north, but the country was of the same general
character. Everywhere, save for the little prairies, it was wooded
densely, and the countless streams, whether creeks or brooks, were
swollen by the winter thaw.

The desire to rejoin his comrades was very strong upon Henry, and he
began to look for proofs that they had been in that region. He knew
their confidence in him, their absolute faith that he would elude the
pursuit and return in time. Therefore they would be waiting for him, and
wherever they had passed they would leave signs in the hope that he
might see them. So, as he fled, he watched not only for his enemies, but
for the trail of his friends.

He was compelled to swim a large river, and the cold was so great that
he risked everything and built a fire, before which he warmed and dried