ream that night; in the hope, by following up the Miami, to stumble
upon the encampment of their adversaries; who were, doubtless, at no
great distance; and who, as they judged, feeling themselves secure,
might easily be surprised to advantage. How they succeeded in their
perilous undertaking, coming events must show.

[Footnote 8: A similar occurrence to the above is recorded of Boone's
first appearance in the Western Wilds.--_See Boone's Life--By Flint_]

CHAPTER X.

THE RENEGADE AND HIS PRISONERS.

The feelings in the breasts of Algernon and Ella, as they reluctantly
moved onward, captives to a savage, bloodthirsty foe, are impossible
to be described. To what awful end had fate destined them? and in what
place were they to drain the last bitter dregs of woe? How much anguish
of heart, how much racking of soul, and how much bodily suffering was
to be their portion, ere death, almost their only hope, would set them
free? True, they might be rescued by friends--such things had been
done--but the probability thereof was as ten to one against them; and
when they perceived the care with which the renegade sought to destroy
all vestiges of their course, their last gleam of hope became nearly
extinguished.

We have previously stated that Ella was left unbound; but wherefore,
would perhaps be hard to conjecture; unless we suppose that the
renegade--feeling for her that selfish affection which pervades the
breasts of all beings, however base or criminal, to a greater or less
degree--fancied it would be adding unnecessary cruelty to bind heir
delicate hands. Whatever the cause, matters but little; but the fact
itself was of considerable importance to Ella; who took advantage of
her freedom, in passing the bushes before noticed, to snatch a leaf
unperceived, whereon, by great adroitness, she managed to trace with a
pin a few almost illegible characters; and also, in ascending the bank,
which she was allowed to do in her own way, to throw down with her foot
the stone, break the twig at the same instant, and pin the leaf to it,
in the faint hope that an old hunter might follow on the trail, who,
if he came to the spot, would hardly fail to notice it.

The freedom thus given to Ella, and the deference shown her by the
renegade and his allies--who appeared to treat her with the same respect
they would have done the wife of their chief--were in striking contrast
with their manners toward Algernon, on whom they seemed