"Heaven bless ye!"

And the enthusiastic fellow struck his friend a resounding whack on the shoulder.

"Sh!" warned Wharton, "we must talk low, for some of them may be near us."

"Why didn't ye sind word to me, so that I could have stood by ye and cheered ye on and watched the sight? Wouldn't it have been a treat!"

"I would have been proud if you and the rest of our friends could have been there, for I did better than I thought I could."

The friends told the particulars of what had happened to each other since their separation. Happy, indeed, were they in their reunion.

"Whart," said Larry a few minutes later, "I knowed there was something I'd forgot."

"What's that?"

"I'm as hungry as I can be."

"So am I, and have been for hours; I wish there was some way of getting supper, but I know of none. There is something else, however, that is more important than supper."

"And what is that?"

"We must get away from here at once. We ought to have left long ago."

"I'm thinking ye're right, and I'm ready to do your bidding whenever you are ready. I came near crossing over that tree a good while ago, and I'm prepared to do it now if you say so."

"I'm not satisfied that that is the best course."

"Why not?"

"From what you have told me and what I have seen, the Shawanoes seem to be using that to-night as a bridge. I don't know how many have come and gone over it to-day. Suppose that a party of them made up their minds to cross at the same time we do?"

"And that's what some of 'em did when I was about to try it; if me gun hadn't wobbled behind me shoulder we'd have met on the log."

"The trees grow to the bank at each end of the log, so that if these two hadn't slanted across that little, narrow space off there to the left, we wouldn't have seen them until they stepped upon the foot-bridge. What I mean to say, Larry, is this: we have had such good fortune that we must not tempt Providence further by trying to cross here."

"How shall we manage it?"

"Go farther up the stream till we're well away from this place, where the Indians seem to be so plentiful."

"And maybe there isn't such a spot."

"There must be; there are not enough of the Shawanoes to be everywhere."

"Not that, but a place where we can cross; ye must bear in mind that it's not me that can jump like yersilf."

"There must be some spot where the banks come close together. A stream generally grows narrower the nearer you approach the source."

"True, if it runs between the rocks all the way, as it does above the falls."

There was logic in these words, and his friend could not deny it.

"I agree with you, Larry; but if the rocks disappear and the torrent widens, then it must be so slow that we can either swim or wade it.

There isn't any chance of our reaching the block-house except by the trail, and that is on the other side."

"But what about the two that wint across a little while ago?"

"We must look out for them, and for the others, too; we are not through with them yet."

"I agree with ye now."

CHAPTER XVI.

THE DETOUR.

There could be no denying that extraordinary fortune had attended the boys, but they were too prudent to count on a continuance of what might be called the run of good luck, except by the utmost circumspection on their part.

They were together once more, with their guns, ammunition and accoutrements intact, and without either having suffered any harm.

Nothing would have been easier for them than to cross the ravine by the fallen tree, which had answered for a foot-bridge more than once that evening, and in doing so it was not probable that they would have run greater risk than they had repeatedly incurred during the preceding few hours; but the necessity for such risk did not exist, and consequently they did not take it. Wharton suspected the truth. The Shawanoes, knowing that the lads, or at least one of them, was in the vicinity, were in ambush along the trail, with the expectation that they would walk into the trap, which is exactly what they would have done had they taken the path opposite to where they were standing while holding their conversation.

The evident and simple course for them to follow was to make a detour, by which they would return to the trail at a point beyond where the red men were awaiting them.

This was more difficult than would be supposed, for the route to the block-house was a winding one, and they were unacquainted with that portion of the country through which they would have to make their way.

They might lose themselves altogether, though both were too good woodsmen not to eventually reach their destination.

But having decided on what to do, they wasted no time. Their purpose was to cross the stream above where they had met, and Wharton picked his way steadily through the wood, with Larry at his heels. Conversation was dangerous, and none for a time was had, since there was no call for it.

The roughness of the ground gave them trouble from the first. They were forced to turn aside repeatedly and flank bowlders, rocks, and wild, broken ravines, into which they would have fallen but for the alertness of Wharton, who maintained his place a few paces in advance.

This course compelled them frequently to edge away from the stream, which still swept between such a high wall of rocks that it was impassable, but they never lost it altogether. By listening carefully they could locate it, and at intervals they made their way to the margin, to learn whether the spot for which they were looking was within sight.

"Well, I declare!"

It was Wharton Edwards who uttered the exclamation, and his companion pushed his way to his side to learn the cause of his excitement. As he did so, he saw they were standing on the edge of a ravine which obtruded itself at right angles to the course they were pursuing.

But for the fact that it contained no water, they would have believed that it was the gorge through which ran the stream. But it was empty, and in the shadows neither could see to the bottom of its gloomy depths.

The trees grew so near the margin that the opposite side was indistinct.

"I didn't expect to meet anything like this," added Wharton, with a sigh of disappointment; "it means trouble."

"You can't tell till ye find out," was the somewhat superfluous remark of Larry. "It may not run very far to the right or left, and we've had so much experience in walking around things that this won't make much difference one way or t'other."

"I'm afraid we'll get so mixed up that we won't be able to find our way from it now."

"It may be a lucky thing--maybe the same."