n which he had come, and was forcibly
restrained while it was pushed off. Then as the meaning of the
situation flashed across him, he wrenched loose from those who held him
and raced along the beach until opposite the canoe that held Donald, to
whom he shouted:--

"Good-bye, Hester! God bless you! Tell them at the fort that I--"

Here he was pounced upon by his new masters and dragged away with
Donald's answering farewell ringing in his ears.

It was after sunset that evening when the war-party reached the camp
site selected as suitable for the orgy in which they proposed to
indulge. The canoe containing Donald and the cask of fire-water was
among the last to make a landing. Already fires were lighted on the
bank above, and the earlier arrivals were impatiently awaiting the
liquor for which they had been willing to barter a highly prized
captive. Thus the moment it landed the cask was seized and borne
triumphantly into camp, followed by all who had been on the beach. For
the first time since his capture, Donald was left to himself, forgotten
or overlooked in the general excitement. He stood for a minute,
irresolute. His opportunity for escape had come. It would be easy to
push off the canoe, jump in, and paddle away. To be sure, his absence
would be quickly discovered and a hot pursuit would ensue, but he was
willing to risk that. Or should he slip into the underbrush, take a
great circuit about the camp and make his way to Detroit overland
through the trackless forest? It would be a difficult but not
impossible thing to do. Still, it must not be thought of, for there
was Edith still a captive, and any freedom that he might gain must be
devoted to her rescue. So he must take his chances of escape by water.

Donald was moving toward the canoe, when his steps were arrested by
another consideration. What would become of Bullen? In their rage at
the flight of one captive, the liquor-crazed savages would surely kill
the other. Could he abandon a comrade to such a fate? Certainly not.
If he escaped at all, it must be in company with the little paymaster
who had proved himself so loyal. So this opportunity must be allowed
to slip by, for poor Bullen was somewhere up there in the camp, cutting
wood or performing other of the menial tasks allotted to him.

"No; old Bullen must not be deserted. There were but two of them left
now, and they must stand by each other." Thus thinking, Donald turned
toward t