"
"Ay," he said, staring at me, and by this time the rest of the guard were
come up. They too stared, with different exclamations on their
lips,--Cowan and Bowman and Tom McChesney and Terence McCann in front.
"And there's a great camp below," I went on, "deserted, where a thousand
men have been."
"A camp--deserted?" said Clark, quickly.
"Yes," I said, "yes." But he had already started forward and seized me
by the arm.
"Lead on," he cried, "show it to us." He went ahead with me, travelling
so fast that I must needs run to keep up, and fairly lifting me over the
logs. But when we came in sight of the place he darted forward alone and
went through it like a hound on the trail. The others followed him,
crying out at the size of the place and poking among the ashes. At
length they all took up the trail for a way down the creek. Presently
Clark called a halt.
"I reckon that they've made for the Ohio," he said. And at this judgment
from him the guard gave a cheer that might almost have been heard in the
fields around the fort. The terror that had hovered over us all that
long summer was lifted at last.
You may be sure that Cowan carried me back to the station. "To think it
was Davy that found it!" he cried again and again, "to think it was Davy
found it!"
"And wasn't it me that said he could smell the divils," said Terence, as
he circled around us in a mimic war dance.
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