It was hard to understand how this could be, and Fred refused to believe it, though the actions of the Indians were certainly remarkable.
What more trying situation could there be? It was like some nightmare in which the victim sees the foe swiftly approaching and is without the power to move so much as a finger.
But Fred did not lose heart. If they had learned where he was, he meant to use his feet and not to yield so long as he could resist.
He tugged at his bonds, but they were fastened so securely that he could not start them. To loosen them so as to free his hands must necessarily be the work of some time, and he knew how it could be done, when he should be free of his enemies.
But the bonds, when two of the Senecas were at his elbow, were torture, and but for his strength of will he could not have avoided an outcry.
Fortunately, the suspense lasted but a few minutes. The Indians stood silent as if listening, and during that ordeal Fred scarcely drew his breath.
Then they exchanged some words in the gruff, exclamatory style peculiar to the red men, and again they paused and listened.
The other pursuers could be heard at different points, for most of them uttered several cautions but well-understood signals, some of which were answered by the two at Fred's elbow.
"Why should they stop here," thought he, "when they have every reason to think I am threshing through the wood and getting farther away each minute?"
Just then they began moving off, and immediately after, he caught the dim outlines of their figures as they crossed an open space and vanished in the woods beyond.