One of the wounded men had asked for fish, and as soon as Henry got back into the camp he prepared some for the sufferer. It was gratefully received.
"Ain't tasted nothin' so good in a long time," said the wounded hunter. "Fresh fish always did strike me just right. I get tired of meat."
When the hunters and trappers came in they brought with them only some small game,—birds, squirrels, rabbits, and wild turkeys. But they had a fair quantity of it, and it was calculated that it might be sufficient until Fort Pitt was reached.
"Saw a few redskins at a great distance," said Tony Jadwin. "I couldn't make out where they were bound."
The idea of using an ice-boat and sleds on the river appealed to nearly all of the party but the Indians, who decided that they would rather stick to the river bank. The ice-boat made by James Morris was enlarged and strengthened, and Jadwin succeeded in making a rude sail out of a thin blanket he carried. Then the hunter and the trader tried the craft, and found it worked as well as could be expected. The runners were scraped and polished, but even then were not as good as metal would have been.
"If the wind stops blowing, we can drag the outfit along by hand," said James Morris. "It will be an easy way of carrying our loads."
They had not dared to take to the regular trail running to Fort Pitt, thinking that the Indians would be on the watch for them. In this they were wise, for they afterwards learned that a body of fifteen red men were on guard at a certain point on the trail, and had they met this detachment it would assuredly have gone hard with the whites.
The trip up the Ohio was resumed at daybreak the following day. The ice-boat was loaded with the game and other things, and then several of the party, including James Morris and Henry, got aboard. There was a lively breeze, and, given a start, the clumsy craft moved forward better than had been anticipated.
"Hurrah! we are off!" cried Henry, enthusiastically. "This beats walking all hollow!"
As luck would have it, the strong wind was directly in their favor. The wind had swept the river almost clear of snow on one side of the stream and they kept the ice-boat in that vicinity, being careful to avoid all the open spots.