CHAPTER XVI.
While the fugitives were pushing their way through the wilderness, and especially after they had entered the more romantic and mountainous section, they had become somewhat separated from each other.
Gravity Gimp, the colored guide, was fully a hundred feet in advance—a piece of imprudence that should never have been permitted, while Eva came next, Aunt Peggy directly behind her, and Maggie and her father were less than a rod distant from her.
Habakkuk McEwen had disappeared!
That which caught the attention of father and daughter while they were conversing so earnestly, was a serpent-like "sh!" from the African, who, stopping instantly, turned part way round, and raised his hand in such a warning manner that the four paused, knowing he had made some alarming discovery.
Gravity remained stationary but a second or two, when, in a stooping posture, he began moving back toward his friends.
At this juncture, and before the little party had fully noticed the absence of McEwen, he was seen approaching from the left, with such a terrified look on his painted face that his shock hair seemed to be standing on end.
He advanced much faster than the stealthy African, and he had hardly reached his friends when he exclaimed, in a husky whisper:
"We're gone! it's all up!"