But gentle heaven, cut short all intermission,
Front to front bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself,
Within my sword's length set him; if he 'scape,
Heaven forgive him too.—Shakespeare.
When Fall-leaf reached the ground he started for the river, pursuing his way cautiously, but rapidly. Ever and anon he would pause and listen. It was evident he was pursued by the party from whom he had just escaped, but, as he passed along, their shouts were received only by a scornful curl of his bronze lip.
But he soon found more difficult objects with which to contend. As he emerged into an open space, he came suddenly upon the party under the command of Rains. He was not at once discovered. Bending to the earth, he crept cautiously along, concealing himself as best he could, by the under brush and tall grass. But he was not long to remain undiscovered. One of the rebel party, having espied the object of their pursuit, raised his rifle, and as its report rang through the forest, it was answered by a sharp cry of the Indian, who sprang into the air, and fell backward.
In an instant he was surrounded. Upon examination it was found that the bullet had penetrated his breast, rendering a dangerous, if not fatal wound, from which the blood was flowing profusely. He was quite conscious, but unable to move or speak.
"Shall I send a bullet through his brain?" asked one of the rebel band.
"It is unnecessary. That ugly wound in the breast will soon end him. But stay. His tribe must not know of his death. Throw him into that hole by yonder rock, then fill it up with stone and dirt."
The form of Fall-leaf was taken from the ground, and cast with violence into a cavern, or "sink-hole," about twenty feet in depth, large enough at its bottom to contain the bodies of a dozen men, but, unlike the majority of such old water-escapes to caverns in the bowels of the earth, the mouth of this hole was so small that it was quite difficult for the passage of a single form. As soon as this was done, the party proceeded to fill the entrance with rock and rubbish.