He remained at the
edge of the circle, while Timmendiquas, the real leader, hastily
gathered his men and took count of them as best he could.
The chief, by the flare of the lightning, saw Henry, upright,
motionless, and facing him. A singular flash of understanding quicker
than the lightning itself passed between the two. Then Timmendiquas
spoke in the darkness:
"You could have gone, but you did not go."
"I gave my promise to stay, and I stayed," replied Henry in the same
tone.
The lightning flared again, and once more Henry saw the eyes of the
chief. They seemed to him to express approval and satisfaction. Then
Timmendiquas resumed his task with his men. Hainteroh of the broad back
had been dashed against a sapling, and his left arm was broken. Another
man had been knocked senseless by a piece of brushwood, but was sitting
up now. Three or four more were suffering from severe bruises, but not
one uttered a complaint. They merely stood at attention while the chief
made his rapid inspection. Every man had wrapped his rifle in his
blanket to protect it from the rain, but their bodies were drenched, and
they made no effort now to protect themselves.
Hainteroh pointed to his broken arm. The chief examined it critically,
running his hand lightly over the fracture. Then he signaled to Anue,
and the two, seizing the arm, set the broken bone in place. Hainteroh
never winced or uttered a word. Splints, which White Lightning cut from
a sapling, and strips of deerskin were bound tightly around the arm, a
sling was made of more deerskin from their own scanty garb, and nature
would soon do the rest for such a strong, healthy man as Hainteroh.
They stood about an hour in the glade until the lightning and thunder
ceased, and the rain was falling only in moderation. Then they took up
the march again, going by the side of the hurricane's path. It was
impossible for them to sleep on the earth, which was fairly running
water, and Henry was glad that they had started. It was turning much
colder, as it usually does in the great valley after such storms, and
the raw, wet chill was striking into his marrow.
The line was re-formed just as it had been before, with Anue leading,
and they went swiftly despite the darkness, which, however, was not so
dense as that immediately preceding and following the hurricane. The
trained eyes of the Wyandot and of the prisoner could now easily see the
way.
The coldness increased, and the di
|