s hand impressively on the
other's shoulder, "are they all safe?--none killed?"

"Non; dey be all alive, for certain."

"I'm thankful for that--_very_ thankful. Now go ahead, lad, and tell me
what ye know, while I pull on my leggins."

"Vell, dey be alive, as I have say. Mais dey not live long."

Gibault said this with such a look of woebegone despair that Bounce
paused in the midst of his dressing and said with much anxiety--"Wot's
wrong?--why not, lad?"

"'Cause dey vill be tortured to death demain, or de day apres de morrow.
Stay, I vill tell to you all I knows. You mus' know, ven I run avay
from you, I do so 'cause I know dat canoe ver' probabilie git opturned,
so I come to river bank before every von. Dere is von big tree dere, so
op I go like von skvirrel. You know vat come to pass apres dat. You
smash de head of de Injun, aussi you smash de paddil. Den you escape,
an' de Injuns howl vid passion!

"Ver' soon after dat, dey all come to de bank of river--forty of 'em, I
tink--draggin' our comerades vid dem, all tied by de wrist--Redhand, an'
Big Valler, an' March, an' Hawksving, an' poor Monsieur Bertram. Mais,
dat Monsieur Bertram, be most 'straordinary man! He terriblement
frightened for every leetle ting, but him not fright von bit for big
ting! Hims look at de sauvage dat hold him as if him be a lion. I do
tink Monsieur Bertram vould fight vell if hims obleeged.

"After good deal of consultoration an' disputerin', dey vas about for go
avay; so I sit ver' still, but I move my foot von leetle morsil, an' von
small leaf fall to de ground. It vas ver' small leaf, but Hawksving him
see it. Ah! he be von cliver Injun. Ver' sharp in sight too! I tink
him should be named Hawkseye. No von else notice it, but I see
Hawksving visper to Big Valler. Dat man be sharp feller too. He turns
hims back to de tree, nevair vonce looked up, but him burst into loud
laugh, like von tondre-clap, an' cry out, `Vell done, Gibault! Keep
close, old feller; their village is one day off towards the sun!' An'
den he laugh again. Ah! ho! how my heart him jump ven he speak my name!
But de Injuns tink hims yell out to some von cross de river, for him
looks dat vay. Vell, off dey go, and I begin to breathe more easy; but
ven dey git far-off, I hear the voice of Big Valler come back like
far-avay tondre, cryin', `Dey're goin' to roast us alive to-morrow; look
sharp!' Dat vas de last I hear. Den de darkness come, an' d