Wharton Edwards could not keep back the question any longer.

"Kenton, why was it you were in such a hurry to get along the trail when you left the block-house?"

"I wanted to catch up with your father and mother, that left before sun-up this mornin'."

The poor lad staggered back, and, had he not caught hold of a sapling, would have fallen to the earth.

"There is no hope for them."

"Who said there wasn't, younker?" demanded Kenton, sharply.

"I can see none; do you?"

"It looks putty bad, I'll own, but Brigham Edwards and his wife are no fools, onless they've become so since they left the block-house."

The words of the great ranger lifted part of the weight from the shoulders of the boys (for the grief of Larry was almost as deep as that of the son), though they were still in anguish of spirit.

"What led you to follow them in such haste? How did you know they were in such great danger?"

"I got in late last night to the block-house; I had been out on a scout for Colonel Quimby and was gone more than a week. The Shawanoes and Wyandots are raising the dickens, and I knowed thar war lots of 'em hanging round the settlement. I told your father, bein' that war so, he had better wait whar he war for a few days, or until we could spare several of the boys to go with him.

"Howsumever, instead of that leadin' him to do as I wanted, it made him and your mother twice as determined to be off. They wouldn't wait at the block-house for you younkers to come in, as they orter done, and made up thar minds to start the fust thing in the mornin'. I talked so hard with your father that I war sure he would change his mind, and so, bein' powerful tired, I went to sleep. I slept so late that when I woke up they'd been gone an hour. I swallered two or three mouthfuls and started after them."

Wharton explained what he had seen for himself, all of which indicated that Blazing Arrow and his two warriors had laid an ambush for the boys.

"Thar ain't no doubt of that after what you tell me. They larned that you war goin' to make a start for the block-house, so they went a good long way along the trail and waited for you to walk into thar open jaws."

"Which we might have done had we gone farther; but, that being so, how was it father and mother rode this way without harm when they must have passed the very spot where Blazing Arrow and the rest were waiting for us?"

"I came by 'em," said Kenton, with another smile.

"You could go by any number of them, for you know how. You were on foot and were prepared for them, but they were on horseback."

"Which leads me to say agin that Brigham Edwards and his wife ain't fools, onless they've become so powerful sudden. Your father knowed thar war three places whar, if thar war any ambush laid, it war sartin to be in one of 'em. Countin' from the settlement, the fust was whar the path goes close to them falls, for the lay of the land jes' invites it; the second are at the ravine down thar, only a little way beyond whar you are standin' this minute; and the third are ten miles this side of the block-house, whar the trail goes through that swampy spot, and the branches are so thick over it that they almost sweep you off the back of your hoss. If he could pass them there three places without runnin' agin the varmints, he would be safe."

"And where were Blazing Arrow and the rest in waiting?"

"At the swampy place I war speakin' of; the varmints made up thar minds that they would be sure of you by goin' close to the block-house."

"And how came father and mother to miss them?"

"Jes' before reachin' the spot they turned out of the trail and went round it. It war powerful hard work pickin' thar way with thar horses among the trees and round the rocks, but they managed to do it, and did not come back to the trail till they war a half mile this side the spot whar the varmints war waitin' for 'em."

"And ye mustn't forgit," said Larry, "that the spalpeens warn't looking for thim, but for us."

Wharton's eyes kindled with pride at this proof of the wisdom of his parents. It made clear that which had been mystifying to him.

"Bein' as your folks had done that," continued Kenton, "why, I thought it only perlite to do the same."

"Why didn't Blazing Arrow and the others wait for us to come?" asked Wharton.

"They got tired, though an Injun has more patience than a white man; but they begun to think that mebbe they war too late after all, and they set out to meet you."

"But you say that we are close to the second place, that is to the ravine where I got my rifle back from Blazing Arrow."

This was the first reference the fleet-limbed youth had made to his great race with the Champion of the Shawanoes, though he had told almost everything else. Remarking that the parents were safe for the present, Kenton demanded an account of the contest, and expressed the greatest delight, declaring that he would have swapped his favorite rifle for a powder-horn could he have stood where he might have witnessed the wonderful burst of speed on the part of the youthful runner.

But Wharton was impatient. All his thoughts were with the folks; and though quite certain, from the words and manner of the scout, that there was no cause for immediate alarm, he could not be denied fuller information.

"We are near the second place that you say would be used by the Shawanoes for ambush. Have the folks passed that yet?"

"No, they ain't two hundred yards off from you this blessed minute."

Wharton bounced from the ground and could hardly repress a cheer in the excess of his delight.

"Why, Kenton, didn't you tell me this before?"

"What war the hurry? They'll keep."

"Where did you overtake them?"

"Some distance back along the trail; I give a signal to your father and he waited for me to come up. I told him the varmints had sot the trap close to the swampy spot that he had sarcumvented, for I had seen their tracks along the trail, and, onless they came trottin' after us, we must look out for that ravine next. It's purty hard work sarcumventin' that, but, leavin' them to do it, I sneaked back hyar to keep a lookout for the varmints."

"Where does father intend to return to the main trail?"

"A little way beyond the clearin'; but the varmints will find out that he are ahead of 'em, and, havin' slipped up once already, they may try some trick; they'll be powerful careful, now that they know your folks ain't alone."