We alternately drove ahead at full speed, and stopped to take breath. The Indians fired at random now and then, hoping that the sound of our footsteps might serve as guide; but they inflicted no more injury on us by shooting, than we did on them while we refrained from discharging our weapons. In such manner was the night passed. We had not fired a shot, while the painted crew in pursuit had wasted twenty bullets or more. Having walked all day, this severe exertion throughout the night wearied me excessively, and when the first gray light of coming dawn filtered through the foliage, it seemed to me as if I was on the verge of exhaustion. The labor had told even on Simon Kenton, and Paul was keeping the pace only through sheer force of will-power. It was a wondrous relief to me when the scout pointed ahead to what appeared to be a dense growth of bushes, through which ran a tiny stream, as he said: "I reckon we'll find no better place in which to make a stand, than there." "Almost anything will please me so that we come to a halt speedily, for I'm well-nigh winded," I replied, speaking with difficulty because of my heavy breathing, and in another instant we three stood facing each other in the thicket, where as yet the light of a new day had not penetrated. The savages might not approach very near during the darkness without taking more risks than such reptiles fancied, and during a certain time we need not fear molestation. Paul and I flung ourselves at full length on the ground, for in no other position did it seem possible to recover from the exhaustion which beset us; but Simon Kenton remained standing at a spot from where he could have a view of some portion of our surroundings when the sun had dispelled the gloom. "I suppose there is good reason to believe the Indians will kill us before we can arrive at Corn Island?" Paul said in a tone of one asking a question, after he had recovered his breath sufficiently to speak, and Simon Kenton replied quietly. "Two or three such races as we have had this night should give them good cause for discouragement." "It is a question whether they or we are getting the worst of this business," I added, trying to speak calmly, as had my comrades; but making a bad job of it. "Twenty-four hours is a long stretch," Paul said thoughtfully, "and it's all I can do to keep my eyes open." "Go to sleep, lad," Kenton cried. "We must contrive to get some rest 'twixt now an' night, an' if you two take a nap at once I'll have a chance later." It may seem strange that boys should be able to sleep under such circumstances as these, and yet the permission had no sooner been given by the scout than I was stretched out at full length, my eyes closing despite all efforts to keep them open. The report of a rifle, discharged near at hand, awakened me, and I looked around to see the scout reloading his rifle. "Did you wing your bird?" I asked sleepily.