was he of this, he at length came to the conclusion that
the Indians, either baffled in their search, had
relinquished the pursuit, or, having encountered Oucanasta,
had been thrown on a different scent. His first intention
had been to lie concealed until the following night, when
the warriors, no longer on the alert, should leave the
path once more open to him; but now that the conviction
of their return was strong on his mind, he changed his
determination, resolving to make the best of his way to
the fort with the aid of the approaching dawn. With this
view he partly withdrew his body from beneath its canopy
of underwood; but, scarcely had he done so, when a hundred
tongues, like the baying of so many blood-hounds, again
rent the air with their wild cries, which seemed to rise
up from the very bowels of the earth, and close to the
appalled ear of the young officer.

Scarcely conscious of what he did, Captain de Haldimar
grasped one of his pistols, for he fancied he felt the
hot breathing of human life upon his cheek. With a sickly
sensation of fear, he turned to satisfy himself whether
it was not an illusion of his heated imagination. What,
however, was his dismay, when he beheld bending over him
a dark and heavy form, the outline of which alone was
distinguishable in the deep gloom in which the ravine
remained enveloped! Desperation was in the heart of the
excited officer: he cocked his pistol; but scarcely had
the sharp ticking sound floated on the air, when he felt
a powerful hand upon his chest; and, with as much facility
as if he had been a child, was he raised by that invisible