Brant usually made his headquarters while bent on such cruel work as that
of harrying the settlers who favored the rebellion against the king, and
it is not necessary I should write down here the well-known fact that
Thayendanega was in the pay of the British.

It seemed much as if the Indians had no care as to whether they were being
followed, for, instead of sending back scouts along the trail, as Brant
almost always did, the party remained in a body, and even when we were so
close on them as to lie down within view of their camp-fires at night, we
never saw one of the painted villains who appeared curious to know if any
person was in the rear.

We were within a day's march of the Indian town, and had lain down in a
thicket of spruce bushes after having looked in vain for some signs of a
prisoner, as we had done during each of the four days while we were
directly behind the band and at no time more than two miles distant.

Jacob's face was wrinkled, or so it seemed to me, with lines drawn by
sorrow because we had not succeeded in getting a glimpse of his father,
and it was evident that the lad was beginning to fear, as did I, that the
savages, finding a prisoner too troublesome, had tortured him to death;
for if Master Sitz was yet alive and in the keeping of Brant's followers,
why had we not got a glimpse of him?

"There is no reason why you should grieve so deeply, lad," Sergeant Corney
said, as if he could read the boy's thoughts. "I'll answer for it that
your father is as much alive as we are."

"How can you be certain of that?" Jacob asked, moodily.