I was aroused from this by feeling something working at my blanket. I lay motionless a moment to ascertain the character of the threatened danger. The next instant something struck me like the paw of an animal; and, thinking a wolf had attacked me, I sprang to my feet with a shout, threw off my blanket, and drew my knife. Instead of confronting wolves, I met the gaze of a half-dozen savages! For a moment I was completely bewildered.
“You go ’long with us,” said one, laying his hand upon my arm.
I saw that resistance would be useless. There were half a dozen fully armed, and my rifle was in their hands.
“I am in your power,” said I; “do what you please with me.”
CHAPTER VIII.
TRAPPING AMONG THE INDIANS.
One of the savages cast some wood upon the fire, and as it blazed up, I saw that five of them stood around me. Resistance would be useless, as my rifle, knife, and revolver were in their hands. Their faces were devoid of paint, and they were probably a party of hunters who had fallen upon my trail. I remembered my spectral visitant a few hours before, and doubted not that he was the means of the tedious captivity which had now only commenced.
After I had arisen to my feet, the captors continued conversing in an unknown tongue. It perplexed me to understand how one of them was able to address me in tolerably good English; but I supposed he must have had intercourse with the fur traders and hunters and the forts and stations of the northwest.