"
"That's exactly it," said Henry. "We've a natural defense which
we can hold against much greater numbers, and the longer we hold
'em off, the nearer our people will be to Fort Penn."
"I never felt more like fightin' in my life," said Tom Ross.
It was a grim utterance, true of them all, although not one among
them was bloodthirsty.
"Can any of you hear anything?" asked Henry. "Nothin'," replied
Shif'less Sol, after a little wait, "nothin' from the women
goin', an' nothin' from the Iroquois comin'."
"We'll just lie close," said Henry. "This hard spot of ground
isn't more than thirty or forty feet each way, and nobody can get
on it without our knowing it."
The others did not reply. All lay motionless upon their sides,
with their shoulders raised a little, in order that they might
take instant aim when the time came. Some rays of the sun
penetrated the canopy of pines, and fell across the brown,
determined faces and the lean brown hands that grasped the long,
slender-barreled Kentucky rifles. Another snake slipped from the
ground into the black water and swam away. Some water animal
made a light splash as he, too, swam from the presence of these
strange intruders.
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