"Just as I thought," said Kenton, laughingly. "This bullet fits only in a musket such as these boys carry. Nobody could ever get it in a smaller calibre rifle like the ones you and your comrades own, Lacroix. So, that is settled, and settled the right way. And your road lies yonder. Bagstock, you and Andrew keep an eye on our friends, and if they so much as turn around within a mile of this, you know what to do!"
And thus the three baffled French trappers went away. They grumbled not, seeming to accept their defeat as the fortune of war; but the malignant look Armand Lacroix cast toward the two brothers told what was on his mind. If by chance they ever ran across his path again, and fortune was kind to him, the Frenchman would not be apt to forget how he had been baited by a couple of half-grown English-speaking American lads. And perhaps, under such conditions, he might be able to make things rather interesting for Bob and Sandy, particularly the latter.
CHAPTER VIII
SIMON KENTON, THE BORDERER
When the boys returned to the settlement, bringing with them the buck, and accompanied by Simon Kenton and his two companions, they were warmly greeted.
The story of how Sandy had braved the three crafty French trappers soon went abroad, and many congratulated the boy on his firm stand. They knew well that it was this secret French influence which was doing so much to make the Indians dig up the hatchet that had been buried at the treaty of Fort Stanwix some years previous; and in every breast existed the same detestation for the cowardly traders who, for the sake of gain, would encourage the savages to resort once more to the torch, and the murderous tomahawk.
Several men vanished from the post shortly after the boys returned. It was suspected that they had banded together with the idea of pursuing the trio of Frenchmen, and putting it out of their power to carry their news to other Indian villages; for Pat O'Mara, who was one of this band, declared it to be his belief that these men were messengers, sent to bear the wampum belt of the great leader, Pontiac, to chiefs who were even then hesitating over what to do.
The men came back on the next day, and, while none of them would say a word about the result of their mission, it was not believed that success had followed them, for they exhibited no symptoms of satisfaction.
Simon Kenton was a great favorite in this Ohio River settlement. As the boon companion of the leading pioneer he would have been warmly welcome; but, besides that, he had such a genial nature that he made friends wherever he went. Contact with Daniel Boone was also doing wonders for this fine young borderer. By slow degrees he was conquering his numerous faults in the line of hasty temper, and quick action, that in the past had brought him so much trouble.