the little patches of open water between them. Henry and Paul crouched
closer in their covert, and the warriors stalked back and forth, still
searching.

Henry knew that the Shawnees, failing to find a place beyond the debris
where the fugitives had emerged upon the bank, would believe that they
might be hidden under the logs, and would not give up the hunt there. If
they should happen to find the rifles and ammunition, they would certainly
be confirmed in the conclusion, but so far they had not found them. Henry,
looking between the logs, saw them pass near the place of concealment, but
they did not stop, and were soon near the other bank. It would have
bitterly hurt his pride if they had found the rifles, even had he and Paul
escaped.

An hour more they waited, and then the last warrior was out of sight, gone
up the river.

"I think we may crawl out now," whispered Henry; "but we've still got to
be mighty careful about it."

Pad took a step and fell over in the water. His legs were stiff with the
wet and cold; but Henry dragged him up, and before trying it again he
stretched first one leg and then the other, many times.

"We must make our way back through the logs and brush to the rifles,"
whispered Henry, "and then take to the woods once more."

"I think I've lived in a river long enough to last me the rest of my
life," Paul said.