lumb foolish, Paul," said Jim Hart.

"They are all coming," said Paul.

But Jim Hart continued to see only the bark and brush hut on the island,
and the vast and unbroken wilderness on the mainland. His eyes roved back,
from the mainland to the hut.

"Now, ef I had an ax an' a saw," he said regretfully, "I could make that
look like somethin'. I'm a good cook, ef I do say it, Paul, but I'd like
to be a fust-class carpenter. Thar ain't no chance, though, out here, whar
thar ain't nothin' much but cabins, an' every man builds his own hisself."

"Never mind, Jim," said Paul, "your time will come; and if it doesn't come
to you, it will come to your sons."

"Paul, you're talkin' foolisher than ever," said Jim indignantly. "You
know that I ain't a married man, an' that I ain't got no sons."

Paul only smiled. Again he was dreaming, looking far into the future.

The spire of smoke was still on the horizon line when the twilight came,
but the next morning it was gone, and they did not see it again. Several
days more passed in peace and contentment, and, desiring to secure more
game, Paul and Hart took out the canoe one evening and rowed to the
mainland.

They watched a while about the mouth of the brook, the favorite drinking
place of the wild animals, but they saw nothing. It seemed likely to Paul
that a warning had been sent to all the tenants of the forest not to drink
there any more, as it was a dangerous place, and he expressed a desire to
go farther into the forest.

"All right, Paul," said Jim Hart, "but you kain't be too keerful. Don't
git lost out thar in the woods, an' don't furgit your way back to this
spot. I'll wait right here in the boat and watch fur a deer. One may come
yet."

Paul took his rifle and entered the woods. It was his idea that he might
find game farther up the little stream, and he followed its course, taking
care to make no noise. It was a fine moonlight night, and, keeping well
within the shadow of the trees, he carefully watched the brook. He was so
much absorbed in his task that he forgot the passage of time, and did not
notice how far he had gone.

Paul had acquired much skill as a hunter, and he was learning to observe
the signs of the forest; but he did not hear a light step behind him,
although he _did_ feel himself seized in a powerful grasp. This particular
warrior was a Miami, and he may have been impelled by pride--that is, a
desire to take a white youth alive, or at least hol