Little Horse then realized that Crooked Hand must be some sort of leader in the tribe, for there was no more argument. The arms of Little Horse were then tightly bound behind him and he was roughly shoved along the trail toward the village from whence these warriors had come. His weapons had been gathered, and one of the braves carried these as the party trotted easily along the trail, pressing Little Horse before them.
It was not too long after this that Running Bear and his rescue party arrived at the place where the struggle had taken place. It was soon evident to all the braves in the party that Little Horse had been taken prisoner, for once past the marks of the struggle, it was easy to pick out the markings of his moccasins in the soft earth of the trail and Little Horse had made sure to come down heavily on his feet in order to leave a trail plain enough for any who might follow to see.
Running Bear and his party pressed forward, going more stealthily now, for they were deep in the territory of the Iroquois and from all signs quite close to the village. Suddenly Running Bear stopped and signaled the party to flatten themselves upon the ground. Through the trees he had seen the feather of an Iroquois and, hardly daring to breathe, they waited. Detection now would mean almost certain death, for they were tired from their long race through the forest and the Iroquois, being close to home and fresh, would have made easy victims of the Delawares.
The lone Iroquois brave had stopped and looked around and then satisfying himself that nothing out of the ordinary was around had continued along the trail in pursuit of the rest of his party which had Little Horse captive.
Running Bear, when he felt it was safe, gathered his friends about him and then spoke in a whisper.
“We will wait until it is dark and then I will approach the village and see if it would be possible for us to rescue Little Horse and return to our village. It is very late and surely he will not be in danger tonight, for the thieving Iroquois will go into council to decide what to do with him. He is definitely a prisoner and most likely since he is young and strong but yet a boy they will make him run the gauntlet tomorrow as a test as to whether he will be permitted to live or must die.”
When darkness fell, Running Bear slipped through the forest to the edge of the Iroquois village and there, hidden in the brush, he was able to view the happenings in the village. He noticed one particular wigwam being well guarded and this he presumed was where Little Horse was being held prisoner. Then as his eyes wandered about the village he noticed a number of older men entering the large council lodge.
This was a fairly large village of the Iroquois, and Running Bear felt that it would be useless for his small band to attempt a rescue of Little Horse.
Suddenly he heard a slight rustling to the side of the trail and peering into the darkness he saw the figure of a brave approaching the trail. He waited and when the brave was almost upon him he reached out and throwing his arms around the throat of the Iroquois he drove his knife into the brave’s heart.
Without a sound the Iroquois slipped to the ground. Running Bear turned and fled back through the forest. They must leave the land quickly, for as soon as the dead brave was discovered a large party would be sent to look for the killers. So as soon as Running Bear had returned to his friends they made a hasty retreat from the vicinity of the village and, running at a steady pace, returned to their village to report the findings. Running Bear planned to gather a large force and the following evening they would attack the Iroquois village and seek to rescue Little Horse.