[Illustration: "WHAT IN BLAZES ARE YOU AIMING AT?"--Page 168.] THE WILDERNESS FUGITIVES BY EDWARD S. ELLIS AUTHOR OF "DEERFOOT" SERIES, "LOG CABIN" SERIES, "BOY PIONEER" SERIES, ETC. ILLUSTRATED THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO., PHILADELPHIA, CHICAGO, TORONTO. COPYRIGHTED 1893 BY THE PRICE-McGILL CO. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE. I--Alone and Together, 7 II--Soft and Low, 15 III--Eavesdropping, 22 IV--The Course of True Love, 30 V--A Light Ahead, 37 VI--The Fragments of the Feast, 44 VII--The Report of a Gun, 51 VIII--Mr. Isaac Perkins, 59 IX--Border Bravery, 67 X--On the River, 75 XI--An Unfavorable Omen, 83 XII--Forced Backward, 91 XIII--New Peril, 100 XIV--Diamond Cut Diamond, 107 XV--A Delicate and Dangerous Task, 114 XVI--Iroquois Against Iroquois, 121 XVII--At Last!, 128 XVIII--The Southeastern Shore, 136 XIX--The Mohawk Objects, 143 XX--The Longest Way Home, 152 XXI--A Curious Discovery, 159 XXII--Another Fugitive, 166 XXIII--Doubt and Perplexity, 174 XXIV--The New Guide, 182 XXV--The Hiding-place, 189 XXVI--Curious Proceedings, 196 XXVII--What Does it all Mean? 203 XXVIII--Up and Doing, 210 XXIX--A Startling Check, 217 XXX--A Merited Fate, 227 XXXI--The Mohawk Explains, 234 XXXII--The Fatal Tree, 242 XXXIII--Captive and Captors, 249 THE WILDERNESS FUGITIVES. CHAPTER I. ALONE AND TOGETHER. The reader will recall that at the close of The River Fugitives the narrative left our friends in a situation, apparently, of safety; and the belief, on the part of Jo Minturn, his sister Rosa and Ned Clinton, was strong that, in their flight from the dreadful scenes of the Wyoming massacre of July, 1778, they had left all dangers behind. They were confident that, under the guidance of the matchless Mohawk, Lena-Wingo (temporarily absent in quest of food), the road to security was beset by no perils worth the mention.