“Not yet; but how long are we to keep this up?” questioned the son.
“Colonel Boone says until we see something of the Indians. And I am glad of it,” added Ezra Winship. “We can’t come up to those rascals too quick for me.”
On the third day out, however, the speed was slackened a little, and just before sundown Daniel Boone and two of the other skilled hunters went on ahead. They were moving up a hill, the ridge of which was located in some timber quarter of a mile away.
Colonel Boone and the others were gone the best part of an hour. The remainder of the party were then ordered to swing round to the left of the trail they had been following and halt just this side of the ridge of the hill.
“The Indians are encamped in the valley on the other side of the hill,” said Colonel Boone. “There are about thirty of them and they have at least some, if not all, of the captives with them.”
CHAPTER XI
WITH NO TIME TO SPARE
“The Indians are encamped in the valley beyond this hill!” cried Joe. “In that case we will soon find out whom they have as captives with them.”
With extreme caution the hunters and pioneers climbed the slope until about fifty feet from the ridge.
Then the men and boys were allowed to crawl among the trees and brushwood to the very top and look over into the valley below.
A plain of tall grass and low brush met their gaze, extending for quarter of a mile in width and several miles in length. In the very center was a small brook, moving peacefully along between the reeds and rushes.