Part 10 (1/2)

”We're behind 'em now,” said Henry.

”But they'll soon be coming back on our trail,” said Ross. ”They know that they are more than two to one, and they will follow hard.”

”I'm gittin' mighty tired ag'in,” said s.h.i.+f'less Sol. ”It 'pears to me thar's a pow'ful good place fur us to rest over thar among all them big trees on that little hill.”

Ross and Henry examined the hill, which was not very high, but small, and crowned with mighty beeches. The great tree-trunks would offer admirable cover for the wilderness fighter.

”It does kinder invite us,” said Ross meaningly, ”so we'll jest go over thar, Sol, an' set a while longer.”

A few minutes later they were on the hill, each man lying behind a tree of his own selection. s.h.i.+f'less Sol had chosen a particularly large one, and luckily there was some soft turf growing over its roots. He stretched himself out luxuriously.

”Now, this jest suits an easy-goin' man like me,” he said. ”I could lay here all day jest a-dreamin', never disturbin' n.o.body, an' n.o.body disturbin' me. Paul, you and me ain't got no business here. We wuz cut out fur scholars, we wuz.”

Nevertheless, lazy and luxurious as he looked, s.h.i.+f'less Sol watched the forest with eyes that missed nothing. His rifle lay in such a position that he could take aim almost instantly.

There was a long and tense silence, full of strangeness to Paul. He could never get used to these extraordinary situations. When preparing for combat, as well as in it, the world seemed unreal to him. He did not see why men should fly at each other's throats; but the fact was before him, and he could not escape it.

The little hill was so situated that they could see to a considerable distance at all points of the compa.s.s, but they yet saw nothing. s.h.i.+f'less Sol stretched himself in a new position and grumbled.

”The wust thing about this bed o' mine here,” he said to Paul, ”is that sooner or later I'll be disturbed in it. A fellow never kin make people let him alone. It's the way here, an' it's the way back in the East, too, I reckon. Now, I'm only occupyin' a place six feet by two, with the land rollin' away thousands o' miles on every side; but it's this very spot, six feet by two, that the Shawnees are a-lookin' fur.”

Paul laughed at the s.h.i.+ftless one's complaint, and the laugh greatly relieved his tension. Fortunately his tree was very close to Sol's, and they could carry on a whispered conversation.

”Do you think the Shawnees will really come?” asked Paul, who was always incredulous when the forest was so silent.

”Come! Of course they will!” replied s.h.i.+f'less Sol. ”If for no other reason, they'll do it jest to make me trouble. I ought to be back thar in the East, teachin' school or makin' laws fur somebody.”

Paul's eyes wandered from Sol to his comrade, and he saw Henry suddenly move, ever so little, then fix his gaze on a point in the forest, three or four hundred yards away. Paul looked, too, and saw nothing, but he knew well enough that Henry's keener gaze had detected an alien presence in the bushes.

Henry whispered something to Ross, who followed his glance and then nodded in a.s.sent. The others, too, soon looked at the same point, Jim Hart craning his long neck until it arched like a bow. Presently from a dense clump of bushes came a little puff of white smoke, and then the stillness was broken by the report of a rifle. A bullet buried itself in one of the trees on the hill, and s.h.i.+f'less Sol turned over with a sniff of contempt.

”If they don't shoot better'n that,” he said, ”I might ez well go to sleep.”

But the forest duel had begun, and it was a contest of skill against skill, of craft against craft. Every device of wilderness warfare known to the red men was practiced, too, by the white men who confronted them.

Paul at first felt an intense excitement, but it was soothed by the calm words of s.h.i.+f'less Sol.

”I'd be easy about it, Paul,” said the s.h.i.+ftless one. ”That wuz jest a feeler. They've found out that we're ready for 'em. There ain't no chance of a surprise, an' they shot that bullet merely as a sort o' way o'

tellin' us that they had come. Things won't be movin' fur some time yet.”

Paul found that s.h.i.+f'less Sol was right. The long waiting customary in such forest combats endured, but he was now becoming more of a stoic, and he used the time, at least in part, for rest, although every nerve and muscle was keyed to attention. It was fully an hour later when a shot came from behind a tree much nearer to them, and a bullet cut a fragment of bark from the gigantic beech that sheltered s.h.i.+f'less Sol. There was a second report before the sound of the first had died away, and a Shawnee, uttering a smothered cry, fell forward from his shelter, and lay upon the ground, quite still. Paul could see the brown figure, and he knew that the man was dead.

”It was Tom Ross who did that,” said s.h.i.+f'less Sol. ”The savage leaned too fur forward when he fired at me, an' exposed hisself. Served him right fur tryin' to hurt me.”

Then Sol, who had raised himself up a little, lay down again in his comfortable position. He did not seem disturbed at all, but Paul kept gazing at the figure of the dead warrior. Once more his spirit recoiled at the need of taking life. Presently came a spatter of rifle fire--a dozen shots, perhaps--and bullets clipped turf and trees. The Shawnees had crept much nearer, and were in a wide semicircle, hoping thus to uncover their foes, at least in part, and they had a little success, as one man, named Brewer, was. .h.i.t in the fleshy part of the arm.

Paul saw nothing but the smoke and the flashes of fire, and he was wise enough to save his own ammunition--he had long since learned the border maxim, never to shoot until you saw something to shoot at.