tellin'."

"You're right," said Henry. "I've not been having any easy time, and for
a while, boys, it looked as if I never would come back. Sit down, and I
will tell you all about it."

They gave him the warmest place by the fire, brought him the tenderest
food, and he told the long and thrilling tale.

"I don't believe anybody else but you would have tried it, Henry," said
Paul, when they heard of the fearful slide.

"Any one of you would have done it," said Henry, modestly.

"I'm pow'ful glad that you done it for two reasons," said Shif'less
Sol. "One, 'cause it helped you to git away, an' the other, 'cause
that scoundrel, Braxton Wyatt, didn't take you. 'Twould hurt my pride
tre-men-jeous for any uv us to be took by Braxton Wyatt."

"You speak for us all there, Sol," said Paul.

"What have all of you been doing?" asked Henry.

"Not much of anything," replied Shif'less Sol. "We've been scoutin'
several times, lookin' fur you, though we knowed you'd come in some time
or other, but mostly we've been workin' 'roun' the place here, fixin' it
up warmer an' storin' away food."

"We'll have to continue at that for some time, I'm afraid," said Henry,
"unless this snow breaks up. Have any of you heard if any movement is
yet on foot against the Iroquois?"

"Tom ran across some scouts from the militia," replied Paul, "and they
said nothing could be done until warm weather came. Then a real army
would march."

"I hope so," said Henry earnestly.

But for the present the five could achieve little. The snow lasted a
long time, but it was finally swept away by big rains. It poured for
two days and nights, and even when the rain ceased the snow continued to
melt under the warmer air. The water rushed in great torrents down
the cliffs, and would have entered "The Alcove" had not the five made
provision to turn it away. As it was, they sat snug and dry, listening
to the gush of the water, the sign of falling snow, and the talk of one
another. Yet the time dragged.

"Man wuz never made to be a caged animile," said Shif'less Sol. "The
longer I stay shet up in one place, the weaker I become. My temper don't
improve, neither, an' I ain't happy."

"Guess it's the same with all uv us," said Tom Ross.

But when the earth came from beneath the snow, although it was still
cold weather, they began again to range the forest far in every
direction, and they found that the Indians, and the Tories also, were
becoming active. There