onds of his ankles that he
could not stand, but could only sit or lie down, they closed the
entrance and left him to his own sorrowful reflections.

The Seminole village occupied an island the surface of which was raised
considerably above that of the surrounding swamp. It was of such
extent as to afford space for several large fields of maize, pumpkins,
and starch root, besides the collection of huts, which numbered in all
about a hundred. These represented a population of about five hundred
souls, of whom about two hundred were warriors.

On all sides of the island stretched to unknown distances the vast
impenetrable swamp, and only by the one narrow trail over which Rene
had been brought could it be gained from the outside world. At the
point where this trail joined the island a Seminole warrior kept watch
night and day, so that the place would seem to be absolutely safe
against surprise, and proof against any attack that might be made upon
it. Escape from it would also appear to be impossible.

On the very night of the arrival of Cat-sha and his prisoners, the
warrior who kept guard at the end of the trail was startled by hearing
a few wild notes of a death-song rise from a small thicket but a short
distance from him.

Then came a loud cry, and the words,

"Thus does E-chee of Seloy defy the Seminole dogs and rejoin his
people!"

Directly afterwards, and before the astonished warrior could reach the
spot, he heard a loud splash in the black waters that surrounded the
island, and then all was still.

As the warrior gained the little thicket, he saw nothing save some
ripples on the surface of the water, and some bubbles rising from its
unknown depths. He was joined by others from the village, and all
searched the thicket for some trace of him who had uttered the
remarkable cry. Finally they discovered in it the head-dress of
feathers that the young Indian of Seloy had worn as a Seminole warrior,
and were forced to conclude that he had drowned himself rather than to
live as one of them. Sneering at the want of taste he had thus
displayed, and regretting that he had not been kept a prisoner, and as
such been tortured for their amusement, instead of being allowed to
become a Seminole, they returned to the village. The sentinel resumed
his watch on the trail, and the incident of E-chee's disappearance was
thought of no more.

When Rene overheard some Indians talking outside the hut in which he
lay, and