To hear that Indians had been seen so close to the settlement caused a thrill to pass through the heart of the boldest man; and the hands that clutched their guns tightened convulsively on the weapons.
"Were they Shawanees, Reuben?" David continued to ask.
The veteran ranger shook his head, with its straggly gray hair that fell down on his shoulders from under the beaver cap.
"Delaware, I reckons," he said, simply; and they believed that so experienced a woodsman could not be mistaken, for there were many characteristics that distinguished the different tribes, even among the famous Six Nations or Iroquois. ([Note 2.])
"Are all here?" asked Captain Brady at this juncture; for they could no longer see any sign of new arrivals hurrying toward the blockhouse.
A hurried count assured them that all families had reached the stockade, with one exception.
"The Bancrofts are missing!" cried one man.
"And their clearing is almost as far away as mine! This looks bad, men!" said Brady, with a grave expression on his set features.
"Something ought to be done, it seems to me," remarked David; for the family in question had been among the first dozen seeking new homes on the Ohio; and between them and his own little brood there had always existed more or less friendship.