Three hours were spent on the scouting tour, and both of the men were on the point of turning back to the fort, satisfied that the Frenchmen and Indians had indeed given up the proposed attack, when they heard the sound of rapid footsteps, and a man burst into view, running with all his might and main. "Halt!" cried James Morris, who at the first sound had raised his musket, while Jadwin did the same. "Don't shoot!" came back, in the well-known voice of Sam Barringford. "Sam!" cried the trader, lowering his weapon, "what does this mean?" "It means I'm 'most out o' breath with runnin'" gasped the old frontiersman. "But git to the post--the French and Indians air a-comin'!" Sam Barringford had come up close to the others, and now without more words all three headed for the post. It was easy to discern that the old frontiersman was well-nigh exhausted, and he was glad enough to take hold of James Morris' shoulder on one side and Tony Jadwin's on the other. "Been a prisoner of them skunks, fire burn 'em!" he explained. "I'll tell ye all about it later. Have ye heard o' Henry, an' the others?" "Yes, Henry is safe and so are most of the others. Cass and Lampton are dead. We were afraid you had been killed, too, until Louis Glotte told us you were a prisoner." And then James Morris told of the manner in which Dave, Jadwin, and Sanderson had followed up the trail. "Glad ye got Glotte a prisoner," said Barringford. "He is 'most as mean a skunk as Jean Bevoir." They now came in view of the post and were quickly admitted by those on guard. "Sam Barringford!" cried Dave and Henry in a breath, and ran up to greet their old friend. After he had been fed and allowed to rest a bit, Barringford told his story in detail. He said he had followed Jean Bevoir and the others to the river near which the Indian village was located. A stray Indian dog had exposed his hiding place, and after a desperate fight in which one Indian had been killed and he himself had been cut in the shoulder with a tomahawk, they had succeeded in making him a prisoner. He had been put into the wigwam already mentioned, with his hands bound behind him and to a stake driven deeply into the soil. He knew of the message sent in by Pontiac, and added that numerous other attacks were to be made on forts and settlements throughout the West. "But how did you get away?" asked Dave.