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shrugged. “They are saying in the settlement that Pequots took you. Pittingel says it. Bauer, also.”
    â€œThey are not eager to find me, I believe.” She spoke calmly. “I am sorry for Carrie that she was with me when they came.”
    Yance came suddenly, soundlessly, from the willows. “Indians,” he said. “A lot of them, I think.”

Chapter VII
    F ollowing him, I looked past his pointing finger at a thin column of Indians, all of whom seemed to be warriors, advancing along a trace from the southwest. Within the range of my vision, judging by their spacing, there were at least forty in the group.
    â€œWait,” I suggested, “and let them pass, then cut back behind them. It is our only chance.”
    If we could do it. Leaving Yance to watch, I went back and explained quickly. “No sound,” I added, “and then when I say, we must move quickly and quietly.”
    We waited then, watching them come. I knew not the clothing or the paint these warriors wore, for it was different than any I had seen. Were they Pequots? Mohawks? I held my musket ready, knowing that its one shot could mean but one enemy dead. I had pistols, and there might be a chance to reload.
    My throat was tight, for fear was upon me. We were but three men against forty, and if they rushed, we should have small chance indeed. Two musket shots, then our pistols and knives, with Henry’s spear, and I yet knew nothing of Henry, whether he could fight or even if he would. Yet he was stalwart, and he carried himself like one who knew his way with weapons.
    Where they came from we had not yet been, so there were no tracks of ours, and if they held to the trace they now followed, they would still see no sign left by us. But—I smiled at the thought—if they held to the trace, they would surely come upon Bauer and those with him.
    We held still, making not the slightest move, scarcely daring to breathe, and the first of them came abreast of us and not fifty yards away, flitting through the forest with scarcely a sound.
    They were slim and wiry men rather than muscular, yet a few among them seemed powerful, and no doubt all were strong enough. They carried spears, but bows and arrows as well as the tomahawk were much in evidence.
    Slowly they passed us by, and my first guess had been close, for I numbered them to be thirty-two and no signs of battle among them, so if it was a raid they were upon, it lay before them.
    No sooner had the last of them disappeared in the forest than I straightened up and beckoned. We went down the slope, past some pines, and took the very trace they had followed, retracing their steps back to the way from which they had come.
    We passed the lake, keeping it close on our right, and a half-dozen miles farther we made camp in a pleasant nook among giant oaks where we swiftly gathered some fallen twigs and branches and built a small, warm but almost smokeless fire. Hidden as we were in a deep place among the trees, the fire would not be seen beyond our circle of trees.
    In a dish, hastily made of birch bark, we sliced up some venison; then, when it had been simmering for a half hour, I added a couple of handfuls of cattail pollen. Diana watched us curiously and somewhat skeptically, I thought, but she made no comment.
    Yance put together two cones of birch bark and plugged the bottoms; then we filled each with the soup. One went to Carrie, the other to Diana. Carrie hesitated, looking doubtful, but hunger overcame the squeamishness at trying something new. Meanwhile, I mixed up more of the soup, adding to what had been left.
    Glancing over at Henry, I said, “You’ve been in the woods before?”
    â€œThey were different.”
    â€œYou move like a woodsman.”
    He looked at me, his head up. “I was a warrior in my own land. I led men in battle.”
    â€œLooks like you may get a chance for battle,” I commented. “Was it in