ng the bushes,
pushing his way softly. This was the most delicate and difficult task of
all. The water must not be allowed to plash around him nor the bushes
to rustle as he passed. Forward he went a yard, then two, five, ten, and
his feet were about to rest upon solid earth, when a stick submerged
in the mud broke under his moccasin with a snap singularly loud in the
silence of the night.

Henry sprang at once upon dry land, whence he cast back a single swift
glance. He saw the chief standing rigid and gazing in the direction from
which the sound had come. Other warriors were just behind him, following
his look, aware that there was an unexpected presence in the forest, and
resolved to know its nature.

Henry ran northward. So confident was he in his powers and the
protecting darkness of the night that he sent back a sharp cry, piercing
and defiant, a cry of a quality that could come only from a white
throat. The warriors would know it, and he intended for them to know it.
Then, holding his rifle almost parallel with his body, he darted swiftly
away through the black spaces of the forest. But an answering cry came
to his, the Indian yell taking up his challenge, and saying that the
night would not check pursuit.

Henry maintained his swift pace for a long time, choosing the more open
places that he might make no noise among the bushes and leaves. Now and
then water dripped in his face, and his moccasins were wet from the long
grass, but his body was warm and dry, and he felt little weariness. The
clouds were now all gone, and the stars sprang out, dancing in a sky of
dusky blue. Trained eyes could see far in the forest despite the night,
and Henry felt that he must be wary. He recalled the skill and tenacity
of Timmendiquas. A fugitive could scarcely be trailed in the darkness,
but the great chief would spread out his forces like a fan and follow.

He had been running perhaps three hours when he concluded to stop in a
thicket, where he lay down on the damp grass, and rested with his head
under his arm.

His breath had been coming a little faster, but his heart now resumed
its regular beat. Then he heard a soft sound, that of footsteps. He
thought at first that some wild animal was prowling near, but second
thought convinced him that human beings had come. Gazing through the
thicket, he saw an Indian warrior walking among the trees, looking
searchingly about him as if he were a scout. Another, coming from a
differ