“And then my pack will be gone, as sure as preaching,” groaned the Yankee, who had stood with his hand upon it, ever since he had tumbled down from the loft.
“Yes, they’ll be pouring in upon us thicker than the lice of Egypt. I can’t see but one way. We’ve got to get out of this shell as soon as we can.”
“Where can we go? The moment we go out we fall into the hands of the red-skins.”
“Prehaps not. I’ve got it into my head that they ain’t hanging round here now. They ain’t further off, I’ll allow, than the edge of the forest, but I don’t believe that they are standing out here taking this pelting. At any rate we’ve got to find out, and thar’s no time to lose in doing it.”
“How are we to know?” asked Ned.
“I’m going out to see,” answered the scout, coolly.
An exclamation of surprise broke from the lips of each of the group.
“You will go to your death if you do,” said Sam Wilson.
“And death will come to all of us if we stay here,” said Dick. “If we can get acrost the clearing into the edge of the woods without the varmints knowing it, our sight will be enough better than to stay here. I don’t believe there’s a savage near us, and now is our time. The rain may stop any moment and then it will be too late. It ain’t lightened any lately, and ’cording to that the shower is passing off. Keep quiet here till I come back. If I have good luck I won’t be gone long.”
He turned toward the ladder, instead of the door as they expected.