CHAPTER XV
A WELCOME VOICE
Dense bushes fringed a bluff looking down on the Muskingum River. In these, concealed from view, lay a boy of fifteen. His face was worn and thin. His moccasins and leggins were frayed from much running through undergrowth. He was peering through the branches to a bend in the river. He had lain there hours, watching. That morning, a canoe containing two savages came up past him. The Indians were paddling vigorously. Why their haste? That was what the boy would know.
The reader has guessed the lad’s name and so will readily understand that Rodney Allison concluded if the Indians were being pursued it was by white men.
Ah! was it? Yes, surely that was the shadow of a canoe. Now he could see its sides under the overhanging branches which concealed its occupants from his view.
|
“An’ all tin twins o’ thim great at shenannegan, An’ all o’ thim born in pairs. Pat an’ Terry, Tom an’ Tim, Peter, Mary Ann––” |
“Halloa!”