“Harmony!” burst from Joe’s lips.
He was right, his sister was in the canoe, held there by the hand of a tall and fierce-looking warrior. With the other hand the red man was using his paddle to force the craft up the stream. As the canoe came closer Joe recognized the warrior. It was Long Knife, the savage chief who had led the attack on the pioneers’ camp.
CHAPTER VII
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE RAIN
It filled Joe’s heart with a nameless dread to see his sister being thus carried off by an Indian he knew was as cruel as he was bloodthirsty.
“I must save her,” was his thought. “I must save her, no matter what the cost!”
In haste he shoved his canoe back to the bank and called softly to Harry.
“What do you want, Joe?” asked his chum, in an equally low tone of voice.
In a few hurried words the situation was explained. “Tell father I have gone after the pair,” Joe added.
Without more conversation, Joe started his canoe forward again, and was soon on the river and in pursuit of the other canoe, which was now a hundred yards or more ahead.
By the aid of the torch in the bow he kept Long Knife’s craft in view with ease, while his own canoe was invisible to the red man on account of the rain and the darkness.