"I think that Colonel Boone is right," he said, "but I and four others
have been associated a long time in work of this kind. We are used to
the forest, and we can move faster in it. Let us go ahead. We will see
what is being prepared at Chillicothe, and we will report to you."

"But the risk to you five?"

"We're ready to take it. Everybody in the army is taking it."

Henry's plan was so promising that he soon had his way. He and the
others were to start immediately.

"Go, my boy, and God bless you," said Colonel Clark. "We want all the
information you can bring, but don't take excessive risks."

Henry gave his promise, left the council, and in five minutes he and his
comrades were deep in the forest, and beyond the sight of their own camp
fires. The weather was now clear and there was a good moon and many
stars. Far to the right of them rose the hoot of an owl, but it was a
real owl and they paid no attention to it.

"Jest what are you figurin' on, Henry?" asked Shif'less Sol.

"I think that if we travel hard all of to-night," replied Henry, "and
then take it easy to-morrow that we can reach Chillicothe early
to-morrow night. We ought to learn there in a few hours all that we want
to know, and we can be back with the army on the following day."

None of the five had ever been at Chillicothe, but all of them knew very
well its location. It was the largest Indian village in the Ohio River
Valley, and many a foray had gone from it. They knew that the forest ran
continuously from where they were almost to its edge, and they believed
that they could approach without great difficulty. After a consultation
they settled upon the exact point toward which they would go, and then,
Henry leading the way, they sped onward in a silent file. Hour after
hour they traveled without speaking. The moon was out, but they kept to
the deepest parts of the forest and its rays rarely reached them. They
used the long running walk of the frontiersman and their toughened
muscles seemed never to tire. Every one of them breathed regularly and
easily, but the miles dropped fast behind them. They leaped little
brooks, and twice they waded creeks, in one of which the water went far
past their knees, but their buckskin trousers dried upon them as they
ran on. The moon went behind floating clouds, and then came back again
but it made no difference to them. They went on at the same swift, even
pace, and it was nearly morning when Henry gave the