They thought it possible that they might
see the advance of the enemy and bring news worth the telling.
Long Jim and Tom Ross took the oars, and their powerful arms sent
the boat swiftly along in the shadow of the western bank. Henry
and Paul looked back and saw dim lights at the fort and a few on
either shore. The valley, the high mountain wall, and everything
else were merged in obscurity.
Both the youths were oppressed heavily by the sense of danger,
not for themselves, but for others. In that Kentucky of theirs,
yet so new, few people lived beyond the palisades, but here were
rich and scattered settlements; and men, even in the face of
great peril, are always loth to abandon the homes that they have
built with so much toil.
Tom Ross and Long Jim continued to pull steadily with the long
strokes that did not tire them, and the lights of the fort and
houses sank out of sight. Before them lay the somber surface of
the rippling river, the shadowy hills, and silence. The world
seemed given over to the night save for themselves, but they knew
too well to trust to such apparent desertion. At such hours the
Indian scouts come, and Henry did not doubt that they were
already near, gathering news of their victims for the Indian and
Tory horde.
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