THE SAFE RETURN
The surface of the snow had frozen again in the night, and Henry found good footing for his shoes.For a while he leaned most on the right ankle, but, as his left developed no signs of soreness, he used them equally, and sped forward, his spirits rising at every step.The air was cold, and there was but little breeze, but his own motion made a wind that whipped his face.The hollows were mostly gone from his cheeks, and his eyes no longer had the fierce, questing look of the famishing wild animal in search of prey.A fine red color was suffused through the brown of his face.He had chosen his course with due precaution.The broad surface, smooth, white, and glittering, tempted, but he put the temptation away.He did not wish to run any chance whatever of another Iroquois pursuit, and he kept in the forest that ran down close to the water's edge.It was tougher traveling there, but he persisted.
But all thought of weariness and trouble was lost in his glorious freedom.With his crippled ankle he had been really like a prisoner in his cell, with a ball and chain to his foot.Now he flew along, while the cold wind whipped his blood, and felt what a delight it was merely to live.He went on thus for hours, skirting down toward the cliffs that contained "The Alcove." He rested a while in the afternoon and ate the last of his rabbit, but before twilight he reached the creek, and stood at the hidden path that led up to their home.
Henry sat down behind thick bushes and took off his snowshoes.
To one who had never come before, the whole place would have seemed absolutely desolate, and even to one not a stranger no sign of life would have been visible had he not possessed uncommonly keen eyes.But Henry had such eyes.He saw the faintest wisp of smoke stealing away against the surface of the cliff, and he felt confident that all four were there.He resolved to surprise them.
Laying the shoes aside, he crept so carefully up the path that he dislodged no snow and made no noise of any kind.As be gradually approached "The Alcove" he beard the murmur of voices, and presently, as he turned an angle in the path, he saw a beam of glorious mellow light falling on the snow.
But the murmur of the voices sent a great thrill of delight through him.Low and indistinct as they were, they had a familiar sound.He knew all those tones.They were the voices of his faithful comrades, the four who had gone with him through so many perils and hardships, the little band who with himself were ready to die at any time, one for another.
He crept a little closer, and then a little closer still.Lying almost flat on the steep path, and drawing himself forward, he looked into "The Alcove." A fire of deep, red coals glowed in one corner, and disposed about it were the four.Paul lay on his elbow on a deerskin, and was gazing into the coals.Tom Ross was working on a pair of moccasins, Long Jim was making some kind of kitchen implement, and Shif'less Sol was talking.Henry could hear the words distinctly, and they were about himself.
"Henry will turn up all right," he was saying."Hasn't he always done it afore? Then ef he's always done it afore he's shorely not goin' to break his rule now.I tell you, boys, thar ain't enough Injuns an' Tories between Canady an' New Orleans, an' the Mississippi an' the Atlantic, to ketch Henry.I bet I could guess what he's doin' right at this moment.""What is he doing, Sol?" asked Paul.
"When I shet my eyes ez I'm doin' now I kin see him," said the shiftless one."He's away off thar toward the north, skirtin'
around an Injun village, Mohawk most likely, lookin' an'
listenin' an' gatherin' talk about their plans.""He ain't doin' any sech thing," broke in Long Jim.
"I've sleet my eyes, too, Sol Hyde, jest ez tight ez you've shet yours, an' I see him, too, but he ain't doin' any uv the things that you're talkin' about.""What is he doing, Jim?" asked Paul.
"Henry's away off to the south, not to the north," replied the long one, "an' he's in the Iroquois village that we burned.One house has been left standin', an' he's been occupyin' it while the big snow's on the groun'.A whole deer is hangin' from the wall, an' he's been settin' thar fur days, eatin' so much an'
hevin' such a good time that the fat's hangin' down over his cheeks, an' his whole body is threatenin' to bust right out uv his huntin' shirt."Paul moved a little on his elbow and turned the other side of his face to the fire.Then he glanced at the silent worker with the moccasins.
"Sol and Jim don't seem to agree much in their second sight," he said."Can you have any vision, too, Tom?""Yes," replied Tom Ross, "I kin.I shet my eyes, but I don't see like either Sol or Jim, 'cause both uv 'em see wrong.I see Henry, an' I see him plain.He's had a pow'ful tough time.He ain't threatenin' to bust with fat out uv no huntin' shirt, his cheeks ain't so full that they are fallin' down over his jaws.
It's t'other way roun'; them cheeks are sunk a mite, he don't fill out his clothes, an' when he crawls along he drags his left leg a leetle, though he hides it from hisself.He ain't spyin'
on no Injun village, an' he ain't in no snug camp with a dressed deer hangin' by the side uv him.It's t'other way 'roan'.He's layin' almost flat on his face not twenty feet from us, lookin'
right in at us, an' I wuz the first to see him."All the others sprang to their feet in astonishment, and Henry likewise sprang to his feet.Three leaps, and he was in the mellow glow.
"And so you saw me, Tom," he exclaimed, as he joyously grasped one hand after another."I might have known that, while I could stalk some of you, I could not stalk all of you.""I caught the glimpse uv you," said Silent Tom, while Sol an' Jim wuz talkin' the foolish talk that they most always talk, an' when Paul called on me, I thought I would give 'em a dream that 'wuz true, an' worth tellin'.""You're right," said Henry."I've not been having any easy time, and for a while, boys, it looked as if I never would come back.
