Paul sat on the
floor and leaned against the wall. The others bent tenderly over him. But
Paul looked up at them and smiled.
"It isn't much," he said. "The sword only grazed me. My clothing saved me
from a bad cut. But I wish you boys, whatever happens, would remember that
Spaniard, Luiz. He's been kind to me."
"We'll do it," said Henry. "I don't know what will come of all this, Paul,
but I feel sure that we'll succeed."
"Of course," said Paul, "but you came just in time, and that was a great
shot of yours."
"We were in the woods," said Henry, "and we saw the crowd gathering. We
knew some mischief was afoot, and they were so eager on it that we came up
unnoticed. I wanted Tom to stay back, but he was afraid he would be
needed."
"And Shif'less Sol?" said Paul. "Where is he?"
Henry laughed.
"The shiftless one is about the shiftiest man in the wilderness," he
replied. "Do you suppose that he would ever walk into a trap, when there
was nothing inside the trap worth the risk? Didn't he know that Tom and I
were sufficient for any task that might be ahead of us this morning?"
Paul laughed, too, and the others were glad to see the color coming back
into his face.
"Good old Sol," he said, "I'm glad he didn't come too.
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