Around Pontiac a dozen warriors had clustered. They seemed to understand that a desperate effort had been made to kill the great sachem, whose words had so recently thrilled them in the grand council; for all accounts agree in saying that no Indian ever spoke as did this gifted orator, Pontiac.
Larue was struggling in the hands of several furious braves. They would have made short work of the treacherous Frenchman only that the voice of Pontiac himself prevented his summary execution.
"Lay no hand on him in anger, warriors!" he called out. "Let him be taken to the strong lodge and there kept fast until your chief can decide his fate. It is the will of Pontiac; let none refuse to obey!"
After that no one dared strike the prisoner, who was dragged away shrieking, and wildly defying the man he hated.
All this excitement was in the favor of the two boys. It gave them a better opportunity to push further away from the dangerous vicinity of the log upon which the visiting sachem had been seated when so rudely disturbed by that shot. And it goes without saying that both lads wasted not a second of time in trying to gain the shelter of the woods.
They knew that Kenton must have been discouraged in his plans by this unexpected happening, because there came no sudden alarm of fire, though the wind was already strong enough to have answered his purpose. Perhaps he fancied that, through some unfortunate freak of fate, Bob and his brother had fallen into the power of the Indians; that heavy gunshot would seem to indicate as much, since few among the Senecas carried firearms.
While all these things had happened very rapidly, and it could not have been more than three minutes since Sandy fired; still, the time seemed tenfold as long to the retreating boys. Finally they reached the shelter of the heavier timber, and breathed a sigh of relief.
In those early days the settlers had a saying to the effect that "a white man should not shout until he was out of the woods, nor an Indian until he had gained their shelter." When Bob and his brother experienced a sense of safety after finally reaching the timber, they counted without their host.