him both of coat, waistcoat, and shirt. He was then bound
a second time in the same manner, his body besmeared with
paint, and his head so disguised as to give him the
caricature semblance of an Indian warrior. When these
preparations were completed, he was led to the tree in
which he had been previously concealed, and there firmly
secured. Meanwhile Wacousta, at the head of a numerous
band of warriors, had departed once more in the direction
of the fort.

With the rising of the sun now vanished all traces of
the mist that had fallen since the early hours of morning,
leaving the unfortunate officer ample leisure to survey
the difficulties of his position. He had fancied, from
the course taken by his guide the previous night, that
the plain or oasis, as we have elsewhere termed it, lay
in the very heart of the forest; but that route now proved
to have been circuitous. The tree to which he was bound
was one of a slight belt, separating the encampment from
the open grounds which extended towards the river, and
which was so thin and scattered on that side as to leave
the clear silver waters of the Detroit visible at intervals.
Oh, what would he not have given, at that cheering sight,
to have had his limbs free, and his chance of life staked
on the swiftness of his flight! While he had imagined
himself begirt by interminable forest, he felt as one
whose very thought to elude those who were, in some
degree, the deities of that wild scene, must be paralysed
in its first conception. But here was the vivifying,
picture of civilised nature. Corn fields, although trodden