Dick looked backward as he said this, hoping that the words he uttered might be true, though he felt sure that they need not hope for any such good luck. That glance showed him how frail his hopes were. Between them and the cabin he could see nearly a score of human forms coming swiftly in their direction. As ill-fortune would have it, the moon had shone out a few moments too soon, and an evil chance had revealed them to the savages at that selfsame moment.
But, the moonlight did not linger long over the clearing. As if content with the mischief it had done, it hid its face again behind the clouds and a deeper gloom than before took its place.
“Courage,” cried Dick, urging them onward. “They’ve got to have sharp eyes if they can find us in the forest afore daylight comes. Strike off here to the left a little. We can fool them now if the moon don’t come out ag’in.”
“Darn it all, I wish I was to hum,” muttered the Yankee. “If I was only up in New Hampshire I’d give a dollar. I sw’ar I would now.”
The movement of the clouds over the face of the moon favored them, and they were well in the shelter of the forest before it showed itself again.
It was so dark here that they could hardly see their hand before their face; but the scout did not allow them to pause for an instant, though they almost had to feel their way along. Yet though they made the best time they could, their pace was slow, for they had as it were to feel their way along. Haste would only expose them to more danger, for they would be liable to make some sound which would betray them. The snapping of a twig might convey to the savages the knowledge of their whereabouts, and expose them to capture or instant death.
For some twenty minutes after they had gained the shelter of the forest, they kept on in this way, and then, in a low tone, the scout bade them pause.
Each stood motionless in their tracks, their ears strained to the utmost to catch the faintest sound of their pursuers.
A silence as profound as that of the grave was around them. The forest seemed to be holding its breath in expectancy.
The savages, if they were following them close, were doing so with noiseless feet, for not the slightest sound could they catch on either side.