Throwing himself on the ground, the youngest member of the party buried his face in the leaves, and shouted with might and main. His voice was so muffled that the sounds could not have been heard more than twenty feet away, so it was safe to believe that it did not reach the ears of any of the Wyandots, who, had their chief allowed it, would have been eager to tomahawk all three lads.
After this ebullition had passed the young hunters were able to talk more coolly. It is not necessary that I should record all their expressions of delight, which, while natural in those of their years, can be imagined by you without help from me.
"Now, what are we to do?" asked Will.
"We are out of danger from the Wyandots," replied his brother, "and we might as well go on our hunt."
"We have father's permission to stay away a couple of nights," added Will; "but, somehow or other, after what we have passed through, I don't feel much like it."
"I think we had better go home."
The change in the weather of which I have spoken was more marked than an hour before. The sky was so clouded that the sun was out of sight, and the air was chilly. Will looked up at the cold vapour overhead, as though he supposed that was the reason for Jack's wish to go home.
"That isn't it," he hastened to say, reading their thoughts; "but I am afraid we are not by a long way through with those Indians yet."
The boys were surprised.
"Hua-awa-oma," he explained, "has come up towards the Ohio to make an attack on some of the cabins. I don't believe he will go back until he has done so."