Produced by Bethanne M. Simms, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net _BOONE AND KENTON SERIES, NO. 2_ THE PHANTOM OF THE RIVER A SEQUEL TO "SHOD WITH SILENCE" BY EDWARD S. ELLIS AUTHOR OF "THE LOG CABIN SERIES," "DEERFOOT SERIES," "WYOMING SERIES," ETC. PHILADELPHIA HENRY T. COATES & CO. COPYRIGHT, 1896, [Illustration: BOONE AND KENTON.] CONTENTS. I. LONGING FOR NIGHT II. THE CAWING OF A CROW III. THE HALT IN THE WOODS IV. ON THE EDGE OF THE CLEARING V. DARING AND DELICATE WORK VI. THE RIGHT OF EMINENT DOMAIN VII. A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP VIII. BY THE WAY IX. THE "ACCIDENT" X. AT RATTLESNAKE GULCH XI. WATCHING AND WAITING XII. CARRYING THE WAR INTO AFRICA XIII. UNKIND FATE XIV. THE INTRUDER XV. A DARK PROSPECT XVI. SIMON KENTON IN A PANIC XVII. A RUN OF GOOD FORTUNE XVIII. "IT'S AN ILL WIND THAT BLOWS NOBODY ANY GOOD" XIX. A FELLOW-PASSENGER XX. WAR'S STRATEGY XXI. THE PHANTOM OF THE RIVER XXII. PUTTING OUT FROM SHORE XXIII. THE SHAWANOE CAMP XXIV. THE FORLORN HOPE XXV. FACE TO FACE XXVI. IN THE LION'S DEN XXVII. THE LAST RECOURSE XXVIII. THE RETURN XXIX. SQUARING ACCOUNTS XXX. CONCLUSION LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS BOONE AND KENTON. JETHRO IN TROUBLE. THE PHANTOM BOAT. THE MISSIONARY'S TRIUMPH. PHANTOM OF THE RIVER. CHAPTER I. LONGING FOR NIGHT. "I think there's trouble ahead, Dan'l." "There isn't any doubt of it, Simon." The first remark was made by the famous pioneer ranger, Simon Kenton, and the second fell from the lips of the more famous Daniel Boone. It was at the close of a warm day in August, more than a century ago, that these veterans of the woods came together for the purpose of consultation. They had threaded their way along parallel lines, separated by hardly a furlong, for a mile from their starting-point, when the above interchange of views took place. Boone had kept close to the Ohio while stealthily moving eastward, while Kenton took the same course, gliding more deeply among the shadows of the Kentucky forest until, disturbed by the evidence of danger, he trended to the left and met Boone near the river. The two sat down on a fallen tree, side by side, and, while talking in low tones, did not for a moment forget their surroundings. They had lived too long in the perilous wilderness to forget that there was never a moment when a pioneer was absolutely safe from the fierce or stealthy red man. "Dan'l," said Kenton, in that low, musical voice which was one of his most marked characteristics, "this 'ere bus'ness has took the qu'arest shape of anything that you or me have been mixed up in." "I haven't been mixed up in it, Simon," corrected Boone, turning his somewhat narrow, but clean-shaven face upon the other, and smiling gently in a way that brought the wrinkles around a pair of eyes as blue as those of Kenton himself.