"Neither do I," said Tom Ross, "I don't like to change faces, an' right here I wash mine."
The three stooped down to the spring, and as they rubbed off the paint they felt their right natures returning.
"I'm thankful I wuz born white," said Shif'less Sol. "Why, what is it, Henry?"
Henry Ware had raised his head in the attitude of one who listens. His eyes were intent and nostrils distended like those of a deer that suspects an enemy.
"We're followed," he said. "I thought we would be."
"Yellow Panther, uv course!" said Tom Ross, with emphasis.
"Of course! And like as not Braxton Wyatt is among those who are with him."
Sol Hyde looked at Henry. There was a queer light in the eyes of the shiftless one.
It was in no tone of boasting that either spoke. Three borderers such as they could shake off the pursuit of any men who lived.
"S'pose we lead 'em on a while," said Tom Ross.
Henry nodded, and the three ran in a sort of easy trot toward the southeast. They took no trouble to hide their trail, and as the forest at this point was free from undergrowth, they were visible at a considerable distance. This easy trot they kept up for hours, and the extraordinary powers, or intuition, of Henry Ware told him that the Miamis were always there, a quarter of a mile, perhaps, behind. But the three men were never troubled. There was no fear in their minds. This was only sport to them.
They crossed brooks and little creeks, and at last, when they came to one of the latter a little larger than the others, Henry Ware said:
"I think it's time to bother 'em now. We'll wade here."
They entered the creek, which had a hard, pebbly bed, and walked rapidly against the stream for at least a quarter of a mile. Then they emerged in dense undergrowth, and turned backward in a course parallel to that by which they had come. But before going far they sank down in a dense thicket, and lay quite still. Then they saw the Miami band pass--fifteen or sixteen warriors, led by Yellow Panther, with Braxton Wyatt trailing at the rear. "The renegade!" said Shif'less Sol savagely, under his breath.
The band passed on, but the three borderers did not stir. They knew that the trail would be lost presently, and some, at least, of the warriors would come back seeking it.