With much difficulty and some rough work the lad reached the spot where he had bidden his mother and the children goodbye, but none of the three was in sight. They had been swept aside by the rush of the terrified people.
A cry sounded above the tumult, and before he could learn where it came from, the arms of his mother were about his neck.
"Thank Heaven! my boy is safe! You do not know what I have suffered. I could learn nothing about you. Are you hurt?"
"Not a scratch—which is more than many other poor fellows can say. Where are the children?"
A tiny hand was slipped into his own, and looking down, there stood Linna, with her forefinger between her teeth, looking shyly up at him. There could be no doubt she felt fully acquainted.
Alice came forward on the other side. Neither understood the cause of the turmoil about them. They were not scared, but were awed into silence.
"I saw Omas," explained Ben to his mother; "he saved me from the fate of many others."
"Where is he?"
"A little way off, under the bank, waiting with his canoe, to take us across the river.
"He says we must hurry through the woods for the settlements on the Upper Delaware. Every hour that we stay increases our danger."