"Why have you come here after once having gotten well away from the place? You can do us no good, an' only hope to add to the savages' list of victims."
"They have not got me yet," Jacob replied, cheerily, and I understood that his courage had been greatly stiffened since the night he crept out from the cave. "There's a big powwow goin' on over at St. Leger's camp, an' no one is on guard hereabouts. This is the time when, if ever, you can escape."
It seemed to me as if the lad talked the veriest nonsense in speaking of our escape by simply crawling away from the lodge, situate as it was in the very midst of the encampment; but Jacob had the whole plan in his mind, and was not to be disheartened, however much cold water we might throw upon it.
It may seem strange, but such is the fact, that even when thus surrounded by danger my curiosity was so great that I asked him, even before he had time to explain how he hoped to effect our rescue, where he had been so long.
"At Cherry Valley," he replied, as if a journey there and back was the most simple thing imaginable.
"Meanin' that you have been home since the night you left the cave?" I repeated, in astonishment.
"Ay, no less than that."
"But why did you do it?" I cried, speaking so loudly as to call forth a warning groan from Sergeant Corney.
"Because I believed it might be possible for you to escape, providin' we had help enough near at hand," he replied, and I said, even more mystified than before:
"Surely you could not expect to get help for us from Cherry Valley?"