While speaking he had been cutting cautiously with his knife one of the longer branches which helped to screen us from view, and when it had been severed he trimmed it with infinite care, as if our welfare depended upon its being smooth and clean.
When this had been done to his satisfaction, and it seemed to give him greatest pleasure to keep me in suspense as to his purpose, he tied to the smaller end of the stick the fringe from his shirt.
"You're goin' to creep out an' wave that!" I cried, in the tone of one who has made a great discovery.
"You can set it down as a fact that I won't creep very far out," the old man replied, with a smile. "It's only the ghost of a chance that anybody will take heed of it, an' yet there's no harm in the tryin'."
When finally he crept cautiously out toward the edge of the thicket, I watched him as eagerly as if all our troubles would be over in case we succeeded in attracting the attention of those in the fort, whereas, no matter how many of our friends might see the waving fringe, we would still be in the same danger of getting a bullet from the besiegers.
"It ain't any ways certain that some of these sneakin' Injuns don't see my signal before one of the garrison does, in which case we won't have to puzzle our heads about gettin' into the fort; but if they should jump on me, you'd best take to your heels. There's a bare chance you might give 'em the slip in the squabble, for I shouldn't knock under while there was any fight left in me."
[Illustration: "Sergeant Corney waved the bit of fringe slowly to and fro">[
Then, peering through the branches, I could see the sentinel on the wall near the sally-port, and it goes without saying that I watched with my heart in my mouth for some gesture which might tell that he understood what was of so much importance to us.
It was fortunate that we had blindly stumbled upon a hiding-place a few yards in advance of the enemy's line of watchers, otherwise the scheme could never have been successful. Even as it was, I expected each instant that some painted snake would take it into his wicked head to wander around in front of the thicket, when the game would come to a speedy end.
Sergeant Corney waved the bit of fringe slowly to and fro in such a manner that the dull color of the deerskin might offer a contrast against the green of the foliage, and when five minutes or more had passed without any movement on the part of the sentinel, I said to myself that there was no possibility we could catch the man's eye.