Six others volunteered for the expedition. The other pioneers, by Daniel Boone’s advice, remained at the fort, to defend that stronghold.
The distance to Flat-Rock Run was not over eighteen miles, but the trail was exceeding rough, and progress was necessarily slow.
“Long Knife knows what he is doing,” said Pep Frost, as he and Joe trudged along side by side. “If he can’t fight he’ll hide in the hills, an’ we won’t have no fool o’ a task routin’ him out nuther!”
“We can stick to his trail until we catch him,” answered the young pioneer simply. “I don’t care how much I suffer, so long as I learn what has become of my mother and father and the rest.”
“Spoken jest like a good boy, Joey. Wall, I’m with ye to the finish, ye kin jest wager yer last shillin’ on that!”
That night the pioneers and hunters went into camp in something of a hollow. A strict guard was kept, and before sunrise the march forward was resumed. Two hours later a sharpshooter who had been in advance came back with the news that the band under Long Knife was in sight, camping at the edge of a small stream running through the hills.
CHAPTER XXIX
THE LONG-LOST AT LAST
At once there was great excitement among the men who had thus followed Long Knife and his warriors to their newly made camp. Every pioneer and old hunter felt that a crisis was at hand.
“I think we have the redskins at a disadvantage,” said one old hunter. “We ought to teach them a lesson they will never forget.”
“Have they any captives with them?” questioned Joe.