A few minutes more and Boone, despite the gloom of the wigwam, could see that a dark form stood by his side.
The scout knew in an instant that it was a friend. He thought it either Lark or Kenton that had so aptly come to his assistance.
CHAPTER XIV.
A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE.
On the morning following the day on which the young stranger, Harvey Winthrop, had been shot down in the little ravine by the Kanawha river, and Virginia was carried off by the villainous tools of Clement Murdock, to the lonely cabin on the other bank of the stream to that on which the settlement of Point Pleasant was located, Murdock again stood before the cabin. The stranger, Benton, and the drunken vagabond, Bob Tierson, had remained by the cabin, still wearing their Indian disguises.
“How does the girl bear it?” Murdock asked, on joining the others. The three stood within the wood just beyond the little clearing.
“Oh, well enough,” answered Benton. “I took her in some breakfast this morning. She’s been crying all night, I reckon. I spoke Injun-fashion to her. She implored me to take her back to the settlement and promised all sorts of rewards.”
“She’ll be quite ready then to look upon me in the light of a deliverer, I suppose,” said Murdock, a smile lighting up his sallow features.
“All you’ve got to do is to go in and win,” said Bob, with a grin.
“That is just what I intend to do,” replied Murdock, enjoying his triumph in anticipation.