“What are you going to do?” asked Nat.
“It will depend upon what we see. If simply those two savages with the captive, as we judge her to be, are in the canoe, and no demonstration is made, I think it best not to attempt a rescue. It is only a supposition of ours that she is a captive, and we know not that she would thank us for interfering in her case.”
In a short time we reached the elevation already mentioned. Here we seated ourselves so as to remain concealed from any stragglers in the vicinity, while we ourselves with a little care could detect the slightest object passing. As I stooped, my hand came in contact with something cold, and upon looking at it, I saw it covered with dark clotted blood. I started, and wiped it on the grass, but it sent a shudder through me to reflect that it had once been the life-fluid of a human being.
“Ugh!” exclaimed Nat; “ain’t that awful?”
“It is disagreeable, to say the least.”
“Just look at the blood on the grass, too, and all around. I believe Bill must have hit a half-dozen Injins sure, the way things appear here.”
“He must have wounded one terribly to make him bleed like this.”
“And if he had been a flesh and blood Injin he would have never tramped in that manner. I tell you, William Relmond, there is something more more than human about us. I can feel it in my bones, and I’m of Biddon’s opinion that the sooner we get away from here the better.”
“Fudge! I see you are beginning to get alarmed.”