While the others sat on fallen timber or leaned against tree trunks, Ross and Sol talked in low tones, but Henry could see that all their words were marked by the deepest earnestness.

Ross presently turned to the men and said in tones of greatest gravity: "All of you heard the howlin' just afore dawn, an' I guess all of you know it was not made by real wolves, but by Shawnees, callin' to each other an' directin' the chase of us.

We've come fast, but they've come faster, an' I know that by noon we'll have to fight." The schoolmaster's eyes opened in wonder.
"Do you really mean to say that they are overhauling us ?" he asked.
"I shore do," replied Ross.

"You see, they're better trained travelers for woods than we are, an' they are not hampered by anythin'." Mr.Pennypacker said nothing more, but his lips suddenly closed tightly and his eyes flashed.

In the great battle ground of the white man and the red man, called Kentucky, the early schoolmaster was as ready as any one else to fight.
Ross and Sol again consulted and then Ross said: "We think that since we have to fight it would be better to fight when we are fresh and steady and in the best place we can find." All the men nodded.