“If the Indians should come down upon us when we are separated,” said Edwin, “I don’t think we would get off as well as we did to-day.”
“No; if we hadn’t this cave to retreat to, we should have seen trouble. As it is, I am a little anxious about Jim.”
“He is careless, but he has been very fortunate. I never saw anything so strange as that which happened to him when we were coming through the mountains. Don’t you think that was strange, George?”
“Very Providential, indeed, although I did not see it myself.”
“I did; he was only a little ways ahead of us, riding along on his horse, when those two Indians sprang out from behind the trees, not more than twenty yards off, aimed both their guns straight at him, fired, and then run away.”
“And never harmed him?”
“Never touched him; he said he heard both bullets whistle past his ears.”
“It was very singular, but not unaccountable. His color and his size are such as to startle these superstitious people, and, no doubt, when these two aimed at him, their nerves were very unsteady, and to this alone their failure is to be attributed.”
“Then he has been in danger several times since we have been here, and was scratched a little this afternoon—so he told me—but he hasn’t been really hurt.”