“Oh, sartinly,” was the prompt reply. “I know egzactly whar the boats are hid. They’re skeercely a dozen feet from hyur.”
As he spoke he took two or three long strides down the sloping bank, to a little cove that extended a few yards inland. Here he stooped and parted the bushes, revealing to the eyes of Jim McCabe five Indian canoes, with their paddles lying in them. Truth is, while conversing with McCabe, Nick Robbins had seen the prow of one of these protruding from the bushes, and the discovery, unimportant in itself, went to prove more clearly to his new acquaintance that he really was connected with the Indians.
“Thar they be,” he said; “all safe an’ ready for use.”
“So I see. Of course you will take one of them on your mission to the island?”
“In course! I’ll have to or swim.”
The two men now seated themselves beneath the wide-spreading branches of a tree, at a point where they had a good view of the island, there to await the time for action. To hear their conversation, one would judge their acquaintance was rapidly ripening into friendship, as they went so far as to almost make confidants of each other, and chatted as familiarly as if they had been on intimate terms for a number of years. In fact, Jim McCabe believed he had found a trustworthy friend in the old hunter, and reposed more and more confidence in him every moment, and, to all appearance, Nick Robbins was similarly worked upon.
The hours dragged slowly by, and at last the sun passed the zenith, ushering in a sultry afternoon.
Nick Robbins waited no longer, but stepped into one of the Indian canoes and sent it skimming down the river toward the island. McCabe watched him with eager eyes as he paddled away, and felt a thrill of exultation as he thought how nicely things were working in his favor! Surely, fortune was smiling upon him.
The hunter was absent a full hour. The wretch on shore had lost his patience, and was beginning to entertain a suspicion that all was not right, when he saw Robbins put out from the head of the island and come rowing slowly back.
“Well?” he asked, as soon as the boat touched the shore. “How did you succeed?”