Jim glanced toward the Indians again. “Look, Pa. They have our rifles and drum.”
Two men were examining the rifles carefully, while the rest of the Indians were passing drum and sticks from hand to hand. One of them began to beat the drum with his hand, making a low rhythmical sound similar to what Wahbunou had made in the Hudson’s cabin.
Jim listened intently to the Indians’ conversation, but he couldn’t understand anything. The words sounded like those Wahbunou had taught him, yet they were somehow different, so that Jim couldn’t get even an idea of what was said.
At last they stopped talking and began rolling in their blankets to sleep. Two men came over to the Hudsons, untied Pa and Jim, dragged them to separate trees and secured them again. One Indian rolled in a blanket beside Jim and the other beside Pa. But they offered no blankets to them, nor to Ma Hudson now fifty feet away.
The next morning they gave their prisoners a small amount of food. Ma tasted it and ate a little, but Pa and Jim ate all the Indians gave them. After breakfast, the women packed all the camp equipment together; the men tied the Hudsons’ hands, set them upright on horses and scrambled up behind them.
The entire party rode rapidly toward the north and west, arriving late in the afternoon at the broad Ohio River. The men chopped down poplar trees and began building a raft. Jim and Pa Hudson watched in amazement to see how quickly these Indians completed it.
Then they ferried women, children and equipment across the river. While some Indians guided the raft, others swam their horses to the far side. When all were safely transported, the band set up their camp for the night.
For several days they continued in a northwesterly direction. On a bright cool day they stopped at noon at a salt lick. The Hudsons realized the Indians would stay here for a while, because the women dug a trench, filling it with a great amount of firewood.
When their fires had burned to a bed of red-hot coals, they drew water from the lick and poured it into big salt kettles. These they placed over the hot glowing coals. Some women kept adding firewood to keep the salt water boiling; others began cooking over a second fire.
Pa, Ma and Jim were permitted to walk about the salt lick as far as the long leash around their waists permitted. But the Indians tied them to trees far enough apart so they could not come close to each other. Pa always would smile encouragingly at Ma and Jim, but he was never permitted to touch them. Two Indians were stationed to watch the prisoners, to prevent their escape.