The Forest Runners

The Forest Runners

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Forest Runners, by Joseph A.
Altsheler This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and
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Title: The Forest Runners A Story of the Great War Trail in Early
Kentucky
Author: Joseph A. Altsheler
Release Date: February 2, 2005 [EBook #14876]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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FOREST RUNNERS ***

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The FOREST RUNNERS
[Illustration: "A massive black form shot down into the center of the
room." [Page 277.]]

The FOREST RUNNERS
A STORY OF THE GREAT WAR TRAIL IN EARLY KENTUCKY
BY JOSEPH A. ALTSHELER AUTHOR OF "THE YOUNG
TRAILERS"
D. APPLETON-CENTURY COMPANY INCORPORATED

NEW YORK LONDON 1936
1908, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

1935, BY EQUITABLE TRUST CO Printed in the United States of
America
BOOKS BY JOSEPH A. ALTSHELER
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR SERIES
The Hunters of the Hills The Rulers of the Lakes The Lords of the Wild
The Shadow of the North The Masters of the Peaks The Sun of Quebec
THE YOUNG TRAILERS SERIES
The Young Trailers The Forest Runners The Keepers of the Trail The
Eyes of the Woods The Free Rangers The Riflemen of the Ohio The
Scouts of the Valley The Border Watch
THE TEXAN SERIES
The Texan Star The Texan Scouts The Texan Triumph
THE CIVIL WAR SERIES
The Guns of Bull Run The Guns of Shiloh The Scouts of Stonewall
The Sword of Antietam The Star of Gettysburg The Rock of
Chickamauga The Shades of the Wilderness The Tree of Appomattox
THE GREAT WEST SERIES
The Lost Hunters The Great Sioux Trail
THE WORLD WAR SERIES
The Guns of Europe The Forest of Swords The Hosts of the Air
BOOKS NOT IN SERIES
Apache Gold The Quest of the Four The Last of the Chiefs In Circling
Camps The Last Rebel A Soldier of Manhattan The Sun of Saratoga A
Herald of the West The Wilderness Road My Captive The Candidate
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY New York London

This story, while independent in itself, continues the fortunes of the
two boys who were the central characters of "The Young Trailers."

CONTENTS
I. PAUL 1
II. IN THE RIVER 17
III. THE LONE CABIN 36

IV. THE SIEGE 59
V. THE FLIGHT 72
VI. THE BATTLE ON THE HILL 91
VII. WHAT HAPPENED IN THE DARK 108
VIII. AT THE RIVER BANK 125
IX. A CHANGE OF PLACES 142
X. THE ISLAND IN THE LAKE 157
XI. A SUDDEN MEETING 176
XII. THE BELT BEARERS 192
XIII. BRAXTON WYATT'S ORDEAL 217
XIV. IN WINTER QUARTERS 239
XV. WORK AND PLAY 254
XVI. NOEL 273
XVII. FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW 283
XVIII. WHAT THE WARRIOR SAW 295
XIX. THE WARNING 310
XX. THE TERRIBLE FORD 328
XXI. THE FLIGHT OF LONG JIM 340
XXII. THE LAST STAND 355

THE FOREST RUNNERS

CHAPTER I
PAUL
Paul stopped in a little open space, and looked around all the circle of
the forest. Everywhere it was the same--just the curving wall of red and
brown, and beyond, the blue sky, flecked with tiny clouds of white. The
wilderness was full of beauty, charged with the glory of peace and
silence, and there was naught to indicate that man had ever come. The
leaves rippled a little in the gentle west wind, and the crisping grass
bowed before it; but Paul saw no living being, save himself, in the vast,
empty world.
The boy was troubled and, despite his life in the woods, he had full
right to be. This was the great haunted forest of _Kain-tuck-ee_, where

the red man made his most desperate stand, and none ever knew when
or whence danger would come. Moreover, he was lost, and the forest
told him nothing; he was not like his friend, Henry Ware, born to the
forest, the heir to all the primeval instincts, alive to every sight and
sound, and able to read the slightest warning the wilderness might give.
Paul Cotter was a student, a lover of books, and a coming statesman.
Fate, it seemed, had chosen that he and Henry Ware should go hand in
hand, but for different tasks.
Paul gazed once more around the circle of the glowing forest, and the
shadow in his eyes deepened. Henry and the horses, loaded with
powder for the needy settlement, must be somewhere near, but whether
to right or left he could not tell. He had gone to look for