"Aisy now, don't feel so bad bekase I'm not. Whereabout did ye find the handle o' me name, lad?" "So you're not the man the Indians killed, that day down on the Ohio, when they captured me?" "Do I look loike I was?" Then dawning comprehension showed in the man's face. "Ah reckon poor Job Armistead was the unfortnit one; he never showed up. May your name be Allison?" he asked. "It is. Have you room in the canoe for one more?" "We'll make room," spoke two of the men at the same moment, turning the craft to shore. Thus, after long months of captivity and days of fleeing through a country infested with warlike savages, Rodney Allison came back to his own people. "You must have seen my father, then, Mr. Ferguson?" said the boy as he stepped into the canoe. "Sure; found him expectin' ye an' he was nigh crazy. You ought to heard him call us cowards an' knaves fer leavin' ye. He wanted to start right off alone to bring ye back, an' would, but we told him thar were others in his family to think about." "Where is he now, and have you any news from Charlottesville?" "He went back to Virginny an' give up the enterprise down on the Kanawha. Saw a man the other day who said he heard yer father had joined the men under Lewis. Now if he'd come along with us we'd had a family gatherin' right out here in the woods. The family's well, I reckon, or yer dad wouldn't hev gone sojerin'." The next day the expedition left the river and began a march toward an Indian settlement known as Wappatomica Town. In the order of this march the division under Captain Wood went ahead, much to the disgust of some of the men with Morgan, for they were greedy for glory, and a chance to win laurels and the consequent promotions. As they were marching through a part of the country through which Rodney had passed in his flight, he remarked to Ferguson, "I don't envy the fellows on ahead when they come to a place about a mile from here. If I know anything about Indians, they'll lie in wait for us there," and he described a locality where he had hidden from a party of savages, one of the critical experiences in his flight. "Me lad, you come with Ferguson," and Rodney was conducted by him to Morgan and introduced. "Well, my boy, if you got out alive we ought to be able to get in." "Captain Morgan, from where I lay in hiding that day a dozen men could shoot down fifty marching below." "This lad, Captain, knows what he's talking about. The chief of the village where he was captive was the redskin that shot ye through the neck and chased ye an' threw his hatchet at yer head." "Yes, Ahneota said the Great Spirit turned the tomahawk aside so that you might live to persecute the Indians." "I hope the old rascal was right. I think, young man, we'll need you for scout duty." "Askin' yer pardon, Captain, but the lad's had his share o' risk, to my thinkin'."