allies, but, Henry, my lad, our fortunes are at
their lowest there in the East, where the big armies are fighting. That
is the reason why nobody has been sent to protect our rear guard, which
has suffered so terribly. You may be sure, too, that the Iroquois will
strike in this region again as often and as hard as they can. I make
more than half a guess that you and your comrades are here because you
know this."

He looked shrewdly at the boy.

"Yes," said Henry, "that is so. Somehow we were drawn into it, but being
here we are glad to stay. Timmendiquas, the great chief who fought us
so fiercely on the Ohio, is with the Iroquois, with a detachment of his
Wyandots, and while he, as I know, frowns on the Wyoming massacre, he
means to help Thayendanegea to the end."

Adam Colfax looked graver than ever.

"That is bad," he said. "Timmendiquas is a mighty warrior and leader,
but there is also another way of looking at it. His presence here will
relieve somewhat the pressure on Kentucky. I ought to tell you, Henry,
that we got through safely with our supplies to the Continental army,
and they could not possibly have been more welcome. They arrived just in
time."

The others came forth presently and were greeted with the same warmth by
Adam Colfax.

"It is shore mighty good for the eyes to see you, Mr. Colfax," said
Shif'less Sol, "an' it's a good sign. Our people won when you were on
the Mississippi an' the Ohio'--an' now that you're here, they're goin'
to win again."

"I think we are going to win here and everywhere," said Adam Colfax,
"but it is not because there is any omen in my presence. It is because
our people will not give up, and because our quarrel is just."

The stanch New Englander left on the following day for points farther
east, planning and carrying out some new scheme to aid the patriot
cause, and the five, on the day after that, received a message written
on a piece of paper which was found fastened to a tree on the outskirts
of the settlement. It was addressed to "Henry Ware and Those with Him,"
and it read:

"You need not think because you escaped us at Wyoming and on
the Susquehanna that you will ever get back to Kentucky.
There is amighty league now on the whole border between the
Indians and the soldiers of the king. You have seen at
Wyoming what we can do, and you will see at other places and
on a greater scale what we will do.

"I find my own positio