“Yes; why did you guess that?”
“I have seen signs for an hour past which made me fear this might be true. That was why I held the boat so close to the bank. The village has been attacked?”
“Ay, surprised, and massacred; the ground is covered with the dead, and the tepees are burned. Madame is half crazed with the shock.”
Barbeau took no heed, his eyes scarce glancing at me, so eager was he to learn details.
“The fiends were in force then?”
“Their moccasin tracks were everywhere. I could not be sure where they entered the village, but they left by way of the Fox. I counted on the sand the imprint of ten canoes.”
“Deep and broad?”
“Ay, war boats; ’tis likely some of them would hold twenty warriors; the beasts are here in force.”
It was all so still, so peaceful about us that I felt dazed, incapable of comprehending our great danger. 264 The river swept past, its waters murmuring gently, and the wooded banks were cool and green. Not a sound awoke the echoes, and the horror I had just witnessed seemed almost a dream.
“Where are they now?” I questioned faintly. “Have they gone back to their own country?”