ierce black
eyes of the Shawnee. And as he looked, a sudden change came over the face
of the chief. A gleam appeared in the black eyes, and the tall, thin
figure seemed to raise itself a little higher. Paul again looked up the
stream, and lo! a tiny dark spot appeared upon its surface. He watched it
as the chief watched it, and it grew, coming steadily down the river. But
he did not yet know what it was.

Now the spirit of action descended quickly upon the whole band. The chief
left the shore and gave quick, low orders to the men, who sank back into
the forest, taking Paul and Braxton Wyatt with them. Two warriors, having
Paul between them, crouched in a dense thicket, and one of them tapped the
unarmed boy meaningly with his tomahawk. Paul did not see Braxton Wyatt,
but he supposed that he was held similarly by other warriors, somewhere
near. In truth, he did not see any of the savages except the two who were
with him. All the rest had melted away with the extraordinary facility
that they had for hiding themselves, but Paul knew that they were about
him, pressed close to the earth, blurred with the foliage or sheltered by
tree trunks.

The boy's eyes turned back to the river, and the black blot floating on
its surface. That blot, he knew, had caused this sudden disappearance of a
whole band of Shawnees, and he wanted to know more. The black blot came
down the stream and grew into shape and outline, and the shape and outline
were those of a boat. An Indian canoe? No; it rapidly grew beyond the size
of any canoe used by the savages, and began to stand up from the water in
broad and stiff fashion. Then Paul's heart thumped, because all at once he
knew. It was a flatboat, and it was certainly loaded with emigrants coming
down the Ohio, women and children as well as men, and the Shawnees had
laid an ambush. This was what the crafty Red Eagle had been waiting for so
long.

It was the final touch of savagery, and the boy's generous and noble heart
rebelled within him. He started up, propelled by the impulse to warn; but
the two warriors pulled him violently back, one of them again touching him
significantly with his tomahawk. Paul knew that it was useless. Any
movement or cry of his would cause his own death, and would not be
sufficient to warn those on the boat. He sank back again, trembling in
every nerve, not for himself but for the unsuspecting travelers on the
river.

The boat came steadily on, Paul saw a number of m