There was but one thing I could do, and that was to submit to whatever was in store for me, trusting to my friends to get me out of this disagreeable scrape. My only hope was that they would become alarmed at my absence, and rescue me in time to save me from the vengeance which I knew Pete intended to wreak upon me.
Having disarmed me, Pete seized me by the collar, pulled me to my feet, and then I found that he was not alone. Another villainous looking half-breed, whose name was Jake, glided up at this moment, and, without saying a word, seized me by one arm, while Pete took hold of the other, and between them I was dragged rather than led to the bayou, where I found a canoe partly drawn out upon the bank.
In obedience to Pete’s command, I was about to step into the boat, when suddenly the blast of a hunting-horn—Duke’s horn, I could have told it among a thousand—echoed through the swamp, followed shortly afterward by the roar of a gun.
“Ugh!” grunted Pete and his companion, in concert.
They stopped on the bank, and stood perfectly motionless with surprise, while I clambered into the canoe, and looked up the bayou in the direction from which the report sounded, to discover what was going on; but there was a bend just above me, and I could see nothing.
A moment’s silence followed the roar of the gun, and then came the clatter of a horse’s hoofs, a splashing in the water, a violent commotion among the cane on the opposite bank of the bayou, and presently, to my utter amazement, I saw—what do you suppose? It was something that caused me to forget the Indians and every thing else about me, and to make me determine to escape, or die in the attempt.
Without an instant’s hesitation, I clasped my hands above my head, and dived out of sight in the bayou.
CHAPTER IX.
CAUGHT AT LAST.
After Sandy and I left the camp, our fellows busied themselves in various ways—Duke kindling a fire, Herbert gathering a supply of wood, and Mark whittling out some spits on which to cook the squirrels. When this had been done, they seated themselves on the ground about the fire, and passed the time in discussing the exciting events that had happened during the last two weeks.
While they were thus engaged they heard some one coming down the bank of the bayou. The bushes were so thick that they could not see who it was, but they could tell by the sound of his horse’s hoofs that he was approaching the camp, and that he was in something of a hurry.