through Piqua, now deserted by the
enemy. Paul and Jim Hart went in one direction to look at the big
Council House, but Henry, the shiftless one, and Tom Ross remained with
Colonel Clark.

"We've won a great victory, though we've lost many good men," said the
Colonel, "and now we must consign Piqua to the fate that Chillicothe has
just suffered. It's a pity, but if we leave this nest, the hornets will
be back in it as soon as we leave it, snug and warm, and with a
convenient base for raiding across the Ohio."

"We'll have to give it to the flames," said Colonel Logan.

The other Colonels nodded. First they gathered up all the dead, whether
red or white and buried them. At Henry's instance the two old chiefs,
Yellow Panther, the Miami, and Red Eagle, the Shawnee, were laid side by
side in the same grave. Then he fixed a board at their head upon which
he cut this inscription:

In this grave Lie
Yellow Panther, the Miami,
And Red Eagle, the Shawnee;
They were great Chiefs,
And died fighting
For Their People.

Not a white man disturbed the epitaph. But as soon as the last of the
fallen were buried, and the soldiers had eaten and refreshed themselves,
the torch was set to Piqua, even as it had been set to Chillicothe. In
an hour the town was a huge mass of flames, three miles long, and
lighting up the neighboring forest for many miles. The Indian refugees,
thousands of them, from both towns saw it, and they knew to the full how
terrible was the blow that had been inflicted upon them. Timmendiquas
sought to rally the warriors for a daring attack upon an enemy who,
flushed with victory, might not be very cautious, but they would not
make the attempt. Timmendiquas then saw that it would take time to
restore their shaken courage and he desisted.

Henry, Shif'less Sol and Tom Ross watched the fire for a long time,
while the soldiers destroyed all the orchards, gardens and crops. They
saw the flames reach their highest until the country around them was as
bright as day, and then they saw them sink until nothing was left but
darkness made luminous by the coals. The great village was gone.

"I think we'd better get Paul and Jim and go to sleep," said Henry.

"So do I," said Shif'less Sol, and they looked around for the two. But
they were not found easily.

"Ought to have stayed with us," said Tom Ross.

"An' they'd have saved a lazy man a lot of trouble, lookin' through this
big place fur 'e