Neither of the boys ever saw Blue Jacket again, since their life trails parted there on the flowery bank of the beautiful Ohio. Destiny led them into the wilderness, to help clear a path for advancing civilization; while the same power took Blue Jacket back into the villages of his people, to carry out the scheme in life to which he was appointed. For a full hour after he had gone Sandy sat there, looking out upon the river as the heavy craft glided steadily on its way, saying not a word to any one. Then all at once he called aloud: "Oh! there's a man down on that point below, and a white man, too! He seems to be in trouble, for he beckons to us all the while, and yet seems afraid to shout out. Perhaps he's escaped from the Indians who tried to catch us napping last night. It looks to me as if he wanted us to push in, and take him aboard." Instantly every one rushed to that side of the boat to look. And, sure enough, there stood a white man, waving his hands to them in a most beseeching manner. His whole appearance would indicate that he had suffered all sorts of recent privations and was both hungry and desperate. "Shall we push in closer?" asked Mr. Wayne, who knew less about Indian trickery than any one of the other men of the party. "Not a foot!" declared Mr. Armstrong; "and every one keep low behind the shelter of the sides; for, by my faith, I fancy, even now, that I can see dusky figures gliding along back there among those trees." The man, as they came opposite, commenced to run along the edge of the shore, and make more urgent gestures than before. "Don't desert me, if you be men with hearts!" he cried out, in seeming agony. "Who are you, and what ails you?" demanded Mr. Armstrong. "My name is Elijah Fish, and with my mate I was taken prisoner by the bloodthirsty Shawanees a moon ago. They have tortured us both, and my comrade finally fell a victim to their savage hatred. I managed to escape four days ago, and they have been hunting for me ever since. If you leave me here, they will surely find me, and take my life. I beg of you to pull in at least part way, and let me come aboard!" "He talks straight, seems to me," declared young Amos Terry. "I don't see no sign of any Indians, and for one I'd hate to think I left a poor white man to be put to death. Ain't there some way he might be saved, Mr. Armstrong?" For answer the leader of the expedition put his hands to his mouth, using them for a trumpet, and called aloud: "We cannot come in any closer, because we must not risk chances of being beset by the Indians; but, if you wish to come aboard, why not enter the water, and swim out after us? That is your only chance, Elijah Fish, which, for one, I do not believe to be your name." "Why, who do you take me for?" asked the man, still running along the sandy strip of shore between the edge of the water and the forest.