e savages, and were
conveyed to their village.

"This does not look well for our own safety," said Sidney.

"Not an arm will be raised against the pale faces who have eaten and
smoked beneath the lodge of Minawanda," said the guide, solemnly.

"Perhaps not, with your consent," retorted Sidney, "but they may not
think it worth while to ask it."

"The rights of hospitality are sacred with my people; let not the young
man fear; no harm will come to him," said the guide, indignantly.

"One thing is certain, a light is breaking on our path. We have found
some of our own race, though under unfavorable circumstances. Yet we
may learn from them how to find our homes," said the trapper,
encouragingly.

"If we get a chance to speak to them," said the chief, pointing
significantly towards a lodge whence rose the wail of despair for a
warrior who had gone out in the pride of manhood and returned not.
"They will be avenged for the warriors who fell in the fight with the
whites," he added, "and though they will respect us while guests of
Minawanda, they will hem us round so we cannot escape, at last falling
into their hands, if the blood of the two prisoners do not satisfy the
bereaved friends of their lost warriors."

"We must deceive them some way and slip away privately," said the
trapper, in a subdued voice as the guide left the lodge, and wended his
way over to the lodges whence proceeded the mournful sounds.

"Let us fly from here, now we are alone and free," said Jane,
nervously. "The deepest recess of the forest is preferable to staying
here."

"We cannot do that; we should be discovered, brought back, and strictly
guarded, and thus be frustrated in all our chances of escaping. No, no;
we want some of their horses to give us a start, besides several hours
of the night to cover our retreat," said the chief.

"Besides this," said the trapper, "it is hardly a Christian act to
leave these two men to perish by the hands of the savages. I do not
think they will offer us any harm, and we may not only effect their
escape peacefully, but induce the Indians to carry us to the nearest
settlement with their horses. We must keep a strict and vigilant watch,
and see which way things turn, and act accordingly."

The day passed and the sun had set, yet Minawanda had not returned to
his lodge, from which the wanderers had not ventured for fear of
further exasperating the Indians. This occurrence troubled them, and in
truth looke