m," said Shif'less Sol.

Tom and Jim became still harder to find. The three hunted everywhere.
They hunted an hour. They hunted two hours, and there was not a sign of
their two comrades. They asked many about them and nobody could tell a
word. It was nearly midnight when they stopped and looked at one another
in dismay.

"They are not in the camp--that is sure," said Henry.

"And they've got too much sense to go out in the woods," said Sol.

"Which means that they've been took," said Tom Ross.

Tom's words carried conviction, sudden and appalling, to all three. Paul
and Jim Hart, going about the burning town, had been seized by some
lurking party and carried off, or--they would not admit to themselves
the dreadful alternative--but they hoped they had been merely taken
away, which they deemed likely, as hostages would be of great value to
the Indians now. The three sat down on a log at the northern edge of the
town. They saw little now but the river, and the clouds of smoke rising
from it.

"We'll never desert Paul and Jim," said Shif'less Sol. "Now what is the
fust thing fur us to do?"

"We've got to find this trail, and the trail of those who took them,"
replied Henry. "The army, of course, cannot follow all through the
northern woods in order to rescue two persons, and it's not fitted for
such a task anyhow. We three will do it, won't we?"

"Ez shore ez the sun rises an' sets," said Shif'less Sol.

"I reckon we will," said Tom Ross.

"And we must start upon the road this minute," said Henry. "Come, we'll
see Colonel Clark and tell him that we have to go."

They found the commander about a mile away, encamped as near the burned
town as the heat would allow. Logan, Floyd, Harrod, Boone, Thomas, and
others were with him. They were talking together earnestly, but when
Henry approached and saluted, Colonel Clark greeted him pleasantly.

"Why, it's young Mr. Ware!" he exclaimed, "the lad to whom we owe so
much. And I see two of your comrades with you. Where are the other two?"

"That is why we have come, Colonel Clark," Henry replied. "We do not
know where the other two are, but we fear that they have been taken by
the retreating Indians. The campaign, I suppose, is over. We wish
therefore to resign from the army, follow and rescue our comrades if we
can."

Colonel Clark sprang to his feet.

"Two of your friends taken, and we to desert you after what you have
done for us!" he exclaimed. "That cannot be. Th