This story, while independent in itself, continues the fortunes of the two boys who were the central characters of "The Young Trailers."


CONTENTS

[I.]PAUL1
[II.]IN THE RIVER17
[III.]THE LONE CABIN36
[IV.]THE SIEGE59
[V.]THE FLIGHT72
[VI.]THE BATTLE ON THE HILL91
[VII.]WHAT HAPPENED IN THE DARK108
[VIII.]AT THE RIVER BANK125
[IX.]A CHANGE OF PLACES142
[X.]THE ISLAND IN THE LAKE157
[XI.]A SUDDEN MEETING176
[XII.]THE BELT BEARERS192
[XIII.]BRAXTON WYATT'S ORDEAL217
[XIV.]IN WINTER QUARTERS239
[XV.]WORK AND PLAY254
[XVI.]NOEL273
[XVII.]FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW283
[XVIII.]WHAT THE WARRIOR SAW295
[XIX.]THE WARNING310
[XX.]THE TERRIBLE FORD328
[XXI.]THE FLIGHT OF LONG JIM340
[XXII.] THE LAST STAND355

THE FOREST RUNNERS


CHAPTER I

PAUL

Paul stopped in a little open space, and looked around all the circle of the forest. Everywhere it was the same—just the curving wall of red and brown, and beyond, the blue sky, flecked with tiny clouds of white. The wilderness was full of beauty, charged with the glory of peace and silence, and there was naught to indicate that man had ever come. The leaves rippled a little in the gentle west wind, and the crisping grass bowed before it; but Paul saw no living being, save himself, in the vast, empty world.