among the slender bushes, frequently trampling them down and leaving signs
that the blindest could not fail to see. Now and then the two looked back,
but they beheld only the forest and the forest people.

"I don't think I ever saw the game so tame before," said Henry.

"Which means," said Sol, "that the warriors ain't hunted here fur a long
time. I ain't seen a single sign o' them."

"Nor I."

They fell silent and scarcely spoke until the sun was setting again, when
they stopped for the night, choosing a conspicuous place, as Sol had done
the evening before. After supper, they sought soft places on the turf, and
lay in peace, gazing up at the great stars. Henry was the first to break
the silence.

"One is coming," he said. "I can hear the footstep. Listen!"

His ear was to the earth, and the shiftless one imitated him. At the end
of a minute he spoke.

"Yes," he said, "I hear him, too. We'll make him welcome."

He rose, put a fresh piece of wood on the fire, and smiled, as he saw the
flame leap up and crackle merrily.

"Here he is," said Henry.

The figure that emerged from the bushes was thick-set and powerful, the