lly he gathered the
drift of their talk. Two miles nearer Forty Fort was a farmhouse one of
the Wyandots had seen it-not yet abandoned by its owner, who believed
that his proximity to Forty Fort assured his safety. He lived there with
his wife and five children, and Wyatt and the Indians planned to raid
the place before daylight and kill them all. Henry had heard enough. He
slid back from the bank to the water and crept into the boat.

"Pull back down the river as gently as you can," he whispered, "and then
I'll tell you."

The skilled oarsmen carried the boat without a splash several hundred
yards down the stream, and then Henry told the others of the fiendish
plan that he had heard.

"I know that man," said Shif'less Sol. "His name is Standish. I was
there nine or ten hours ago, an' I told him it wuz time to take his
family an' run. But he knowed more'n I did. Said he'd stay, he wuzn't
afraid, an' now he's got to pay the price."

"No, he mustn't do that," said Henry. "It's too much to pay for just
being foolish, when everybody is foolish sometimes. Boys, we can yet
save that man an' his wife and children. Aren't you willing to do it?"

"Why, course," said Long Jim. "Like ez not Standish will shoot at us
when we knock on his door, but let's try it."

The others nodded assent.

"How far back from the river is the Standish house, Sol?" asked Henry.

"'Bout three hundred yards, I reckon, and' it ain't more'n a mile down."

"Then if we pull with all our might, we won't be too late. Tom, you and
Jim give Sol and me the oars now."

Henry and the shiftless one were fresh, and they sent the boat shooting
down stream, until they stopped at a point indicated by Sol. They leaped
ashore, drew the boat down the bank, and hastened toward a log house
that they saw standing in a clump of trees. The enemy had not yet come,
but as they swiftly approached the house a dog ran barking at them. The
shiftless one swung his rifle butt, and the dog fell unconscious.

"I hated to do it, but I had to," he murmured. The next moment Henry was
knocking at the door.

"Up! Up!" he cried, "the Indians are at hand, and you must run for your
lives!"

How many a time has that terrible cry been heard on the American border!

The sound of a man's voice, startled and angry, came to their ears, and
then they heard him at the door.

"Who are you?" he cried. "Why are you beating on my door at such a
time?"

"We are friends, Mr. Standish," c