"The first is a tall man, young, with light hair. He is bent over a little because of the heavy pack on his back, and the long distance he has come, but he walks with a swing that I've seen before." "I reckon," said Long Jim, "that he's close kin to that lazy critter, Shif'less Sol." "Closer even than a twin brother," continued Henry. "I'd know him anywhere. The other just behind him, and bent also a little with his heavy pack, is amazingly like a friend of ours, an old comrade who talks little, but who does much." "None other than Silent Tom," said Paul joyfully, as he rose and joined Henry at the door. "Yes, there they are, two men, staunch and true, and they bring the powder and lead. Of course they'd come on time! Nothing could stop 'em. The whole Shawnee and Miami nations might be in between, but they'd find a way through." "An' the buffler steak an' the wild turkey are jest right," called Long Jim. "Tell 'em to come straight in an' set down to the table." Henry, putting his fingers to his lips, uttered a long and cheerful whistle. The shiftless one and the silent one, raising their heads, made glad reply. They were soaked and tired, but success and journey's end lay just before them, and they advanced with brisker steps, to be greeted with strong clasps of the hand and a warm welcome. They entered the rocky home, put aside the big packs with sighs of relief and spread out their fingers to the grateful heat. "That's the last work I mean to do fur a year," said Shif'less Sol. "'Twuz a big job, a mighty big job fur me, a lazy man, an' now I'm goin' to rest fur months an' months, while Long Jim waits on me an' feeds me." "Jest now I'm glad to do it, Sol," said Jim. "Take off your clothes, you an' Tom, hang 'em on the shelf thar to dry, an' now set to. The steaks an' the turkey are the finest I ever cooked, an' they're all fur you two. An' I kin tell you fellers that the sight uv you is good fur weak eyes." Shif'less Sol and Silent Tom ate like epicures, while, denuded of their wet deerskins but wrapped in dry blankets, they basked in the heat. "Not a drop of rain got at the powder," said the shiftless one presently, "an' even ef we don't capture any from the Injuns we ought to hev enough thar to last us many months." "Did you see anything of the warriors?" asked Henry. "We hit one trail 'bout fifty miles south uv here, but we didn't have time to foller it. Still, it's 'nough to show that they're in between us an' the settlements." "We expected it. We discovered sufficient while you were gone to be sure they're going to make a great effort to end us. They look upon us as the eyes of the woods, and they've concluded that their first business is with us before they make another attack on our villages." Shif'less Sol helped himself to a fresh piece of the wild turkey, and made another fold of the blanket about his athletic body.