"But you don't explain; did you see anything of Red Crow?" "You asked me awhile ago, and I beg pardon for not answerin'. No, I haven't seen him lately, that is, for the last few weeks; but while I was out yender, just on t'other side of the ravine, whar the trail makes a sharp turn, I catched sight of one of the varmints stealin' along as though he was lookin' for somethin'. He catched sight of me at the same time. We had not time to dodge behind anything, and it was a question which could aim and fire the quickest. Wal," added Kenton, with a sigh of complacency, "mebbe thar's a varmint somewhar that can do that thing quicker'n me, but I haven't met him yet." "But you say you saw Blazing Arrow?" "Yas, and another of the redskins; they war some way ahead, and the trees war so plenty that we couldn't draw bead. I waited for 'em to come nigher, but they didn't seem to be lookin' for that sort of thing just then, and they scooted t'other way. I 'spect I'll meet 'em agin purty soon, and I'm ready." CHAPTER XXVIII. GOOD NEWS. Wharton Edwards could not keep back the question any longer. "Kenton, why was it you were in such a hurry to get along the trail when you left the block-house?" "I wanted to catch up with your father and mother, that left before sun-up this mornin'." The poor lad staggered back, and, had he not caught hold of a sapling, would have fallen to the earth. "There is no hope for them." "Who said there wasn't, younker?" demanded Kenton, sharply. "I can see none; do you?" "It looks putty bad, I'll own, but Brigham Edwards and his wife are no fools, onless they've become so since they left the block-house." The words of the great ranger lifted part of the weight from the shoulders of the boys (for the grief of Larry was almost as deep as that of the son), though they were still in anguish of spirit. "What led you to follow them in such haste? How did you know they were in such great danger?" "I got in late last night to the block-house; I had been out on a scout for Colonel Quimby and was gone more than a week. The Shawanoes and Wyandots are raising the dickens, and I knowed thar war lots of 'em hanging round the settlement. I told your father, bein' that war so, he had better wait whar he war for a few days, or until we could spare several of the boys to go with him. "Howsumever, instead of that leadin' him to do as I wanted, it made him and your mother twice as determined to be off. They wouldn't wait at the block-house for you younkers to come in, as they orter done, and made up thar minds to start the fust thing in the mornin'. I talked so hard with your father that I war sure he would change his mind, and so, bein' powerful tired, I went to sleep. I slept so late that when I woke up they'd been gone an hour. I swallered two or three mouthfuls and started after them." Wharton explained what he had seen for himself, all of which indicated that Blazing Arrow and his two warriors had laid an ambush for the boys.