The obedient girl complied, as she would have done had she known that death was to be the penalty.
She placed herself beside Eva, and the two, wrapping their arms about each other, wept in silence.
Aunt Peggy, as if conscious the crisis had come, ceased her cooking and softly seated herself beside them, without a word.
Mr. Brainerd, proud and defiant as ever, sat bolt upright on the fallen tree, with arms folded, looking as keenly as an eagle in the face of the being whom he execrated above any of his kind.
The Senecas watched them all, and it was easy to detect the signs of impatience among them, for they had been baffled too long of their prey.
As Jake Golcher retreated a step or two the Indians uttered a short exclamation of surprise, as well they might, for two figures strode for-toward out of the gloom in the light of the camp-fire.
One of them was Habakkuk McEwen, who led by the arm Lieutenant Fred Godfrey, the latter stepping briskly, while a strange half-smile hovered about his handsome mouth.
Mr. Brainerd and the rest of the fugitives were thunderstruck, and totally at a loss to understand the meaning of the spectacle.
Fortunately, they were not kept long in suspense.
The face of Habakkuk was wreathed in an all-embracing smile, though there was a certain delicacy in his position that prevented his smile becoming contagious.