“Dead—my only friend gone!” exclaimed the girl. “What shall I do? Give myself to the Briton? No, no! a thousand deaths in these forests are preferable to a life with him.”
The torches of the red-coated hunters flashed in her face, and snatching up Spagano’s rifle, she turned, and fled in the direction lately indicated by the Indian’s finger.
The moon had reached the meridian now, and the faint light which she showered through the trees, enabled the flying girl to pick her way without great difficulty. She was confident that she was hurrying toward the Huron, and she knew that by following the river-trail, she would eventually reach Fort Strong. This hope nerved her to great endurance, and at last, as the day was breaking, she saw the murky water rushing lakeward.
A thrill of joy shot through her heart, and lifting her eyes to heaven, she thanked God for guiding her to the water, which was to her, at that hour, a synonym of safety.
She felt fatigued and threw herself upon the ground to recruit her strength. She felt herself alone by the river, and the birds performed their matutinal antics about her, perfectly happy and unconcerned.
Lighter and lighter grew the forest, but Huldah Armstrong saw it not. A desire to rest was to her but the precursor of a doze, and she reclined on the river-bank with closed eyes and half-shut hands.
Suddenly a boat rounded a bend a few yards above her place of repose, and came rapidly toward her.
It was a small boat, and contained a man, who handled the oars like one accustomed to their use. He was a white, and wore the oft described garb of the settler; but a sword lay at his side, and rifles and pistols. He glanced uneasily at the banks, as he kept his canoe in the middle of the stream, and seemed eager to reach a certain objective point still far away.
But all at once his gaze fell upon Huldah Armstrong, plainly seen from the river, and a moment after the discovery, he ran his canoe cautiously to the bank.
At first, after striking the shore, he was inclined to believe the maiden a decoy; but after a close scrutiny of the vicinity, he became bolder and crept up the bank.