"I think he will be able to get away, unless they have a canoe with which to follow him."
"Even then he can take to the woods and hide himself until dark, and then make his way back to us."
"I hope so, but fear he will be prevented or overtaken before he can reach shelter."
"But think, Howard, he has a gun and plenty of ammunition, and there are but three of them. I should say they would hesitate some time before advancing upon him."
"But he is a poor shot, like ourselves."
"He could not miss them if they came very close to him."
"Yes; there seems to be a good chance, if they don't find more Indians to unite with them in the hunt."
This was a contingency that had not occurred to Elwood, and he was almost overwhelmed at its import until he came to reason upon it, when the likelihood of such being the case dwindled away until it almost vanished.
"We have seen no large bodies of savages, and I don't believe they care enough about catching or slaying a single man to go to all that trouble."
"Not so much trouble, perhaps, as you are apt to think. War is the business of the American Indians, you know, as it is of all barbarous people."