"He has made himself an outlaw," said Henry, "and it's my opinion, Sol,
that he's somewhere in these regions. And Braxton Wyatt is with him, too.
That fellow will never rest in his plots against us. We'll hear from them
both again. They'll try for some sort of revenge."

They rejoined the boats at noon, and three or four hours later they saw a
canoe ahead of them upon the water. It contained two occupants who graded
their speed to that of the fleet, keeping well out of rifle-shot.

"What do you take them to be?" called out Adam Colfax to Henry.

"Indians, I know, and spies, I think," replied Henry.

Several of the more powerful boats moved ahead of the fleet and endeavored
to overtake the canoe, but they could not. The two Indians who occupied it
evidently had skill and powerful arms, as they maintained the distance
between themselves and their pursuers. Henry and Paul, stirred by the
interest of the chase, also seized oars and pulled hard, but the canoe
presently turned up a small tributary river, where they did not have time
to follow it, and they saw it no more.

It was something that many might have passed as a mere incident of the
river, but Henry did not forget it. His sixth sense, the sense of danger,
as it were, had received a definite impression, and he paid heed to the
warning.

That afternoon clouds came up for the first time. It had been very warm on
the river, but the heat and closeness did not develop into a rapid storm
of thunder and lightning as so often happens in the Mississippi valley.
Instead, the air turned colder, and a raw, drizzling rain set it. It was