Wild with joy, Spotted Deer paddled furiously toward the shore. Running Fox waded out to meet him. As he stepped into the canoe, an arrow sang harmlessly past them. The next moment they heard the Mohawks rushing into the water below them.
“Paddle hard!” cried Running Fox. “They will swim out and try to catch us.”
“We will get by them,” declared Spotted Deer. “Keep watching ahead.”
He turned the canoe toward the opposite side of the river, and put all his strength into his paddle strokes. Then, when he was half-way across, he turned down the river. They had gone several arrow-flights when Running Fox called a warning. A moment later they flashed past one of the Mohawks, who was floundering desperately within three bow-lengths of them.
“Now we are safe,” said Spotted Deer.
“Yes, I believe we have got away,” replied Running Fox. “You have done a great thing.”
Spotted Deer asked Running Fox why he had been so slow in replying to his signal. Running Fox said that at the time he heard it one of the Mohawks was somewhere within a few bow-lengths of him, and he had feared to make the slightest move. He had been compelled to wait, therefore, until the Mohawk moved away.
“Well, we have fooled them,” declared Spotted Deer.
“Yes, that is true,” replied Running Fox. “But I believe they will bring a great war-party to fight us.”