Nothing more was found, however, though the man afterward thought he had discovered the print of a moccasin in the sand, where it had been partly protected; but still some rain had reached it, and there was no certainty.
The trail they were then following was, I have said, large and deeply worn, so that the little party of Lord H---- soon got somewhat in advance of all the others, except that which had continued on the government road.
"Stay a bit, my lord," said the good boatman, at length; "we are too far ahead, and might chance to get a shot, if there be any of them red devils in the wood. I know them well, and all their ways, I guess, having been among them, man and boy, these thirty years; and it was much worse when I first came. They'll lie as close to you as that bush, and the first thing you'll know of it will be a ball whizzing into you; but if we all go on in time they can't keep back, but will creep away like mice. But what I can't understand is, why they should try to hurt young Walter, for they were all as fond of him as if he were one of themselves."
"The fact is, my good friend," replied Lord H----, in a low tone, "the day I came down to your landing last, one of the Oneidas was, unfortunately, killed, and we are told that they will have some white man's blood in retaliation."
"To be sure they will!" said the man, with a look of consternation. "They'll have blood for blood, if all of 'em die for it. But did Walter kill him?"
"No," replied Lord H----; "it was our friend the Woodchuck--but he did it entirely in self-defence."
"What! Brooks?" exclaimed the boatman, in much surprise. "Do let's hear about it, and I guess I can tell you how it will all go, better than any other man between this and Boston;" and he seated himself on the stump of a tree, in an attitude of attention.
Very briefly, but with perfect clearness, Lord H---- related all that had occurred on the occasion referred to. The boatman listened with evident anxiety, and then sat for a moment in silence, with the air of a judge pondering over the merits of a case just pleaded before him.
"I'll tell you how it is, my lord," he said, at length, in an oracular tone; "they've got him, depend on't. They've caught him here in the forest; but you see, they'll not kill him yet--no, no, they won't. They've heard that Woodchuck has got away, and they've kidnapped young Walter to make sure of someone. But they'll stay to see if they can't get Brooks into their clutches somehow. They'll go dodgering about all manner of ways, and try every trick you can think of to have him back. Very like you may hear that they've killed the lad, but don't you believe it for a good many months to come, for I guess it's likely they'll set this story afloat just to get Brooks to come back, for then he'll think that they've had all they wanted, and will know that he's safe from all but the father, or the brother, or the son of the man he has killed. But they'll wait and see. Oh, they're the most cunnin'est set of critters that ever lived, and no doubt of it. But let's get on, for the others are up--there's a redcoat through the trees here--and they may, perhaps, have scalped the boy; though I don't think it's nohow likely."
Thus saying, he rose and led the way again through the dark glades of the wood, till the clearer light of day shining amidst the trunks and branches on before, showed that the party was approaching the spot where the late conflagration had laid the shady monarchs of the forest low. Suddenly, at a spot where another trail crossed, the soldier who was with them stooped down and picked something up off the ground, saying: "Here's a good large knife, anyhow."