Woods Runner

In Chapter Six, Samuel is moving along the trail of the attackers, learning what he can from the signs they leave behind. He can tell that the prisoners have been tied together and are being pulled along, forced to move more quickly. He imagines his mother as one of the prisoners and begins to grow angry, but calms himself so he can focus on his tracking. Widening his range, he discovers that several scouts in moccasins are walking alongside the men on horses who are pulling the prisoners. He finds the body of a man on the side of the trail, scalped.

As Samuel approaches a settlement named Draper's Crossing, he sees that the cabins there have been burned as well. There is an old man who calls himself Old Bobby at the settlement burying some of the victims. He has been spared, possibly because he seems to be insane. From Old Bobby Samuel learns that the attackers had come early that dawn. He is gaining on them.