captive the night
before, suddenly ceased his snoring, which had been heard without
intermission for a great length of time; and when Mary instinctively
cast her eyes toward him, she was surprised to see him gently and slowly
raise his head. He enjoined silence by placing his hand upon his mouth.
After carefully disengaging himself from his comrades, he crept quietly
away, and soon vanished entirely from sight on the northern side of the
spreading beech. Mary expected he would soon return and assist her to
escape. Although she was aware of the hardships and perils that would
attend her flight, yet the thought of again meeting her friends was
enough to nerve her for the undertaking, and she waited with anxious
impatience the coming of her rescuer. But he came not. She could
attribute no other design in his conduct but that of effecting her
escape, and yet he neither came for her, nor beckoned her away. She had
reposed confidence in his promise, for she knew that the Indian, savage
as he was, rarely forfeited his word; but when gratitude inspired a
pledge, she could not believe that he would use deceit. The fire was now
burning quite low, and its waning light scarce cast a beam upon the
branches overhead. It was evidently not far from morning, and every hope
of present escape entirely fled from her bosom. But just as she was
yielding to despair, she saw the Indian returning in a stealthy pace,
bearing some dark object in his arms. He glided to her side, and
motioned to her to leave the snow-canoe, and also to take with her all
her robes with which she had been enveloped. She did his bidding, and
then he carefully deposited the burden he bore in the place she had just
occupied. A portion of the object becoming unwrapped, Mary discovered it
to be a huge mass of snow, resembling in some respects a human form, and
the Indian's stratagem was at once apparent to her. Relinquishing
herself to his guidance, she was led noiselessly through the bushes
about a hundred paces distant from the fire, to a large fallen tree that
had yielded to some furious storm, when her conductor paused. He pointed
to a spot where a curve caused the huge trunk to rise about a foot from
the surface of the snow, under which was a round hole cut through the
drifted snow down to the earth, and in which were deposited several
buffalo robes, and so arranged that a person could repose within,
without coming in contact with the frozen element around. Mary looke