THE KEEPERS OF THE TRAIL

CONTENTS


CHAPTER PAGE

I. HENRY IN HIS KINGDOM 1

II. THE BIG GUNS 23

III. THE INDIAN CAMP 41

IV. THE DEED IN THE WATER 61

V. THE FOREST JOKER 83

VI. THE KING WOLF 101

VII. THE FOREST POETS 123

VIII. THE PATH OF DANGER 140

IX. THE KEEPERS OF THE CLEFT 164

X. BESIEGED 187

XI. THE SHIFTLESS ONE 207

XII. ON THE GREAT TRAIL 230

XIII. FIVE AGAINST A THOUSAND 251

XIV. HOLDING THE FORD 270

XV. THE GREAT CULMINATION 293




THE KEEPERS OF THE TRAIL




CHAPTER I

HENRY IN HIS KINGDOM


A light wind blew over the great, primeval wilderness of Kentucky, the
dense, green foliage rippling under it like the waves of the sea. In
every direction forest and canebrake stretched in countless miles, the
trees, infinite in variety, and great in size, showing that Nature had
worked here with the hand of a master. Little streams flashing in silver
or gold in the sunlight, flowed down to the greater rivers, and on a
bush a scarlet tanager fluttered like a flash of flame.

A youth, uncommon in size and bearing, stepped into a little opening,
and looked about with the easy, natural caution belonging to the native
of the forest who knows that danger is always near. His eyes pierced the
foliage, and would have noticed anything unusual there, his ear was so
keen that he would have heard at once any sound not a part of the woods.

Eye and ear and the indefinable powers of primitive man told him no
enemy was at hand, and he stood on the green hill, breathing the fresh,
crisp air, with a delight that only such as he could feel. Mighty was
the wilderness, majestic in its sweep, and depth of color, and the lone
human figure fitted into it perfectly, adding to it the last and
finishing touch.

He blended, too, with the forest. His dress, wholly of fine, tanned
deerskin, was dyed green, the hunting shirt fringed, hunting shirt,
leggings and moccasins alike adorned with rows of little beads. Fitting
thus so completely into his environment, the ordinary eye would not have
observed him, and his footsteps were so light that the rabbits in the
bush did not stir, and the flaming bird on the bough was not frightened.

Henry Ware let the stock of his rifle rest upon the ground and held it
by the barrel, while he gazed over the green billows of the forest,
rolling away and away to every horizon. He was a fortunate human being
who had come into his own kingdom, one in which he was fitted supremely
to reign, and he would not have exchanged his place for that of any
titular sovereign on his throne.