“They are safe now, I think,” he said. “Baltimore Bob has been completely hoodwinked. You must go to the General now.”
“And you?”
“Oh, I will stay. You will tell him about Mouseh’s new stronghold; how to approach it; in short, every thing you know about it. Take the canoe. You can paddle, and you know the way from this spot.”
“Yes; but Artena would be near Cohoon when he sleeps in Jack’s cave. Donald don’t know what he is to Artena.”
“Ah! but I do, girl,” was the ranger’s reply. “I have known it long, too. Are you afraid to meet Jack?”
“No; he does not believe Artena a traitress.”
“Good. Now watch the boys till I find the boat.”
So Donald McKay glided from the girl’s side, and moved down the bank toward the underground river.
He knew where he had moored the boat, and he reached the spot to find the craft missing!
“What does this mean?” he ejaculated, inaudible. “Surely no Indian would steal it without suspicions. It wasn’t an Indian boat. Even in the dark a red-skin could have told that.”