"Reckon you air lucky folk," said one, addressing Steve. "There's been few come through safely since the French set them Injuns on. Have yer had a muss with 'em?" "We beat them back at the range," answered our hero. "We set a trap for them, and they walked into it. That's the last we saw of them. But we have passed many a ruined and burnt-out settlement." "Ay, there's many of 'em, more's the shame. Ef we up here get news of the comin' of the Injuns, why, we goes down and does what we can. But it ain't often like that. They come down upon the settlements like a hawk, and every one's wiped out. There ain't many settlements left. They say as all the backwoods huts air fired and men scalped, and that the bigger settlements just near the Alleghany range have also been fired. Then some of the varmint have been over the range, and they've wiped out big farms and hul villages. It makes a man swear to hear it all, and to know that we can do nothing to prevent the murders. But what can you expect when George has only a thousand men, same as us, to look after four hundred miles of frontier? Why, there's Injuns out all along the line from Western New York State right away down to North Carolina." Steve and his friends were indeed amazed at this statement. They knew that an Indian war had been raging along the frontiers of the thirteen States, but having been so cut off in the forests, little news had come to their ears. They had learned that various expeditions had been sent against the French and their allies, and that these had for the most part been defeated or had failed to effect their object. They knew too that massacres had taken place here and there. But this was indeed news. It was terrible to learn that all along this frontier, extending over some four hundred miles, farms and settlements had been exterminated, that bands of Indians had ravaged the possessions of the colonists, and had even carried their war over the Alleghanies, wiping out the huts of the pioneers, which may be called the first line of defences, then firing the settlements which were not so far advanced, and which formed a second line, and finally, throwing themselves upon a third and final line, that formed by the more prosperous and more settled villagers on the eastern slopes of the Alleghanies. "But how have they been allowed to do all this?" demanded Steve, indignantly. "Surely there are men in the colonies! Why, if this sort of thing is allowed, the Indians will reach the coast, and will massacre at Charlestown and other places." He swung round on his companion, his face flushed and his eyes flashing with indignation. Then he suddenly observed that a fifth stranger, dressed as a hunter like the rest, but with something about him which attracted more than usual attention, had joined the group, slipping up to it unheard and unseen from the forest. He was tall and lithe, some twenty-four years of age, and his keen blue eyes fixed themselves on Steve's figure.