lost my senses.

When we parted with Jacob there was no thought in my mind that Sergeant
Corney had the slightest idea of joining in what was a most desperate
venture, and I even fancied he felt a certain sense of relief in having
such a good excuse for not sticking his nose into the Indian encampment.
But now I understood that all the while he held firm to the determination
to do whatsoever he might toward aiding Peter Sitz, and I began to feel
real affection for the noble old man.

Whether we might be able to find Jacob or not, and the chances were that
he had already been made prisoner, we could say to ourselves that the poor
lad was not deserted by us in his hour of need, and, if the worst
happened, it would be no slight satisfaction to us in after years.

The storm increased each moment, and we were soon wetted to the skin, but
hardly conscious of the discomfort because of the safety which this
downpour brought to us.

I had never given Sergeant Corney credit for any great knowledge of
woodcraft, because he came to us from over the seas where his life had
been spent fighting battles in the open, and could not be expected to cope
with the savage foe, as did our people who had always been accustomed to
the skulking methods of warfare practised by the redskins.

Now, however, I was forced to give him credit for being wiser than I in
the forest, since in the darkness and amid the tumult caused by the wind
and rain he made the détour as if a broad trail stretched out before him
under the sunlight, and we half-circled around the fortification, at the
distance of a mile or more, without varying, so far as could be told, a