"I shall go wherever you say," she replied firmly, "I believe you will
know best."
"Then I decide on this route. Once we get beyond the swamp, those
fellows are going to have a hard task following us, unless they have an
Indian trailer along with them. We have been here several hours; the
horses must be rested. Let's eat what we can again and then start. We
must find a way out of this labyrinth while we have daylight."
Kennedy stood up and stared about us at the desolate scene, the
expression of his face proving his dissatisfaction with the prospect.
"O' course, I'm a goin' 'long with yer, Cap," he acknowledged, dryly.
"I never wus no quitter, but this yere trip don't look so damned easy
ter me, fer all thet. Howsumever I reckon we'll pull through som'how,
on fut, er hossback. I'll wake up thet dark gurl an' then saddle the
hosses."
I watched him round the corner of the cabin, not wholly at ease in my
own mind, then gathered up the map and replaced it in my pocket, aware
that Eloise had not moved from her position on the grass.
"Is he right?" she questioned, looking up at me. "Is there any real
danger of Indians?"
"Some, perhaps; it is all Indian country, north and east of here--or
has been. I am not denying that, but this danger does not compare, in
my mind, with the peril which confronts us in every other direction. I
am trying to choose the least. Our greatest difficulty will be the
lack of food--we possess no guns with which to kill game, only pistols,
and an exceedingly small stock of ammunition.
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