And then, later, when between them the boys had described the accident out on the river, whereby the breaking of the paddle was responsible for the collision with the great unwieldy log, and the loss of the dugout, she realized the peril her sons had been in, even though they strove to make light of it.
Last of all came the news that Blue Jacket was trying to fetch to his friends at the time he and Pat had so opportunely come upon the floating log in the middle of the Ohio.
“Let us hope and pray that it may not be so bad as that,” Mrs. Armstrong said; for, now that her boys had been restored to her, she felt that she could face almost any calamity with calmness. “The Indians may have over-estimated the force of the water, and it will not rise higher than our doorstep, at most.”
“It is not very far from that, even now,” observed Bob, who had noted before entering the cabin how terribly near that flowing flood came to their home, and that already it had covered the patch of ground where he and his brother were accustomed to work at odd times, when not hunting, or attending to their string of traps.
“We shall not dare sleep much to-night,” declared Mr. Armstrong. “You see, my boys, we have been busy, and our few possessions are already done up, ready to be carried to higher ground, if necessary—which we hope may not be the case.”
Then came Pat O’Mara, always a welcome guest at the Armstrong cabin; for he had always shown himself one of their best friends.
“Sure, there be some av the settlers who make light av the direful news Blue Jacket brings, becase, ye say, ’tis only an Injun that fetches the same,” the trapper remarked, after he had greeted the rest of the family, and joined the circle. And then with the boys ate heartily of the food Mrs. Armstrong had placed before them.
“A strange thing happened since you left home,” remarked the owner of the cabin, as he reached out, and, picking something up, laid it on the heavy table, scoured snowy white by the hands of the good housewife.
Sandy uttered a cry of astonishment.
“Why, look at that, will you?” he exclaimed. “It must be another of those strange warnings we have been getting for a long time past, though we can never understand who sends them, for I can see the same figures marked here on the birch bark that we settled before meant those rascally French trappers.”