signal to stop.

He saw a place that he thought would suit them for their informal camp,
a dense thicket of bushes and vines on a hill, a thicket that even in
the daylight would be impervious to the keenest eyes.

"Suppose we crawl in here and rest awhile," he said. "We mustn't break
ourselves down."

"Looks all right," said Tom Ross.

They crept into the dense covert, and all went to sleep except Henry and
Ross who lay down without closing their eyes, theirs being the turn to
watch. Henry saw the sun rise and gild the forest that seemed to be
without human being save themselves. Beyond the thicket in which they
lay there was not much underbrush and as Henry watched on all sides for
a long time he was sure that no Indian had come near. He was confirmed
in this opinion by two deer that appeared amid the oak openings and
nibbled at the turf. They were a fine sight, a stag and doe each of
splendid size, and they moved fearlessly about among the trees. Henry
admired them and he had no desire whatever to harm them. Instead, they
were now friends of his, telling him by their presence that the savages
were absent.

Henry judged that they were now about two-thirds of the way to
Chillicothe, and, shortly before noon, he and Tom awakened the others
and resumed their journey, but in the brilliant light of the afternoon
they advanced much more slowly. Theirs was a mission of great importance
and discovery alone would ruin it. They kept to the thicket, and the
stony places where they would leave no trail, and once, when a brook
flowed in their direction, they waded in its watery bed for two or three
miles. But the intensity of their purpose and the concentration of their
faculties upon it did not keep them from noticing the magnificence of
the country. Everywhere the soil was deep and dark, and, springing from
it, was the noblest of forests. It was well watered, too, with an
abundance of creeks and brooks, and now and then a little lake. Further
on were large rivers. Henry did not wonder that the Indians fought so
bitterly against trespassers upon their ancient hunting grounds.

The twilight of the second night came, and, lying in the thicket, the
five ate and drank a little, while the twilight turned into dark. Then
they prepared their plans. They did not believe that Chillicothe was
more than three miles ahead, and the Indians, knowing that the army
could not come up for two days yet, were not likely to be keeping a very
s