As the signal was heard the three looked up and caught the dim outlines of a head. There was not enough light to identify it, but had the moonlight fallen upon it, those who stood below would have observed that the face did not belong to any one of their three friends.
With misgiving, Maggie grasped the support and went up; then Eva followed, and, last of all. Habakkuk McEwen stood alone.
He paused in doubt a minute or so, but when the vine swung within his reach, he seized it, muttering:
"I may as well follow the crowd."
And he did.
The instant he arrived at the top he was seized by several Seneca Indians, and the astounding truth then dawned upon him that not only he, but every one of the party, had climbed squarely into the trap set for them, and, without a single exception, were prisoners in the hands of the very red men they were trying with so much skill to avoid.
CHAPTER XXIX.
It will be admitted that the little party of fugitives whose fortunes we are following displayed great skill in escaping the Tories and Indians, who, on that "day of desolation," wrought such ruin in the Wyoming Valley.
A wonderful good fortune attended them up to a certain point, and yet the humiliating truth must also be admitted, that, from the moment they rushed pell mell into the friendly cavern in the rocks, they were outgeneraled by the Senecas, under the leadership of the Tory, Jake Golcher.