The young man started as if he had received an electric shock; he turned pale, clutched the barrel of his rifle, and then listened, trying in vain to pierce the intense darkness which wrapped all nature as in a winding sheet.
Some minutes passed, during which there was not a breath in the air, not the slightest sound. George Clinton breathed more freely, wiping the sweat from his brow.
"Heaven be praised," he said, "I was mistaken."
Scarcely had he uttered these words, which he hardly believed, when the same frightful cry was repeated.
"It is a terrible warning," he cried; "some fearful crime is being accomplished. I cannot hesitate."
And, without another thought, he darted off in the direction whence came the lugubrious sound.
Almost ere George had quite disappeared in the darkness a shrill whistle, modulated in a certain way, was twice repeated; then a heavy black mass appeared crawling on the earth; this dark mass stopped at short intervals, and then again advanced. This strange phenomenon was soon followed by a second, a third, another, in all ten.
In a few minutes all were round the hut. Then a second whistle was heard, a signal of course, as they all rose and revealed ten armed men. They were ferocious-looking beings, with sinister features—true bandits of the prairies.
"We are the masters," said one; "the serving men sleep, the master is away, let us waste no time."
"Do you know where he is?" asked a second.