By the position of the sun Harry judged that it was nearly noon. As the orb of day was almost directly overhead it was next to impossible for him to locate the points of the compass.
“If I felt stronger I would climb a tree and take a look around,” he told himself. But he was still so shaky he felt that there would be too much danger of falling.
A grassy bank close to where he had cooked the fish looked very inviting, and he threw himself upon it to rest—for just about ten minutes, so he told himself. But the ten minutes lengthened into twenty, and then into half an hour, and soon he was sleeping soundly, poor, worn-out Nature having at last claimed her own.
When Harry awoke he felt much refreshed, and his headache was entirely gone. He sprang to his feet with an exclamation of surprise, for the sun was setting over the forest in the west.
“I must have slept all afternoon,” he murmured ruefully. “Well, I reckon I needed it. But I should have been on my way before dark.”
He now felt more like climbing a tree, and was soon going up a tall walnut that stood on a slight hill near by.
From the top a grand panorama of the rolling hills of Kentucky was spread out before him—that captivating scene which had but a few years before so charmed Daniel Boone and other pioneers who had entered that territory. Here and there a stream glistened in the setting sun, and at one point Harry could see an open stretch of grass with a small herd of buffalo grazing peacefully, while at another point, evidently a salt-lick, several deer were making themselves at home. As Daniel Boone had said, it was truly the land of plenty.
But Harry’s mind was just then centered upon but two things—to find Joe and to get back as soon as possible to the camp,—provided anything was left of the latter, which was questionable. As he thought of the Indians he shook his head doubtfully.
“They won’t give up this land to us if they can help it,” he told himself. “They will fight for it to the bitter end. For all I know to the contrary, all of the others, including Joe, may be either dead or prisoners.”
From his position in the tree Harry tried to locate the camp which he had left the morning before, but all he could see was a smoldering fire far in the distance.