lmly, but still she
could not, by any mode of conjecture, realize the probability of her
foes having returned and traced her thither. Yet an undefinable fear
still possessed her, and she endeavored with patience to await the
pleasure of her friends. But when the chief seated himself in her
vicinity, and fell into one of his fits of abstraction, and the whole
party became comparatively still and hushed, the poor girl's suspense
was almost insufferable. She knew that human beings were all around her,
and yet her situation was truly pitiable and lonely. She felt assured
that if the war-party had returned in pursuit of her, the means which
enabled them to trace their victim to the fallen trunk would likewise
have sufficed to indicate her hiding place. Then why should they
hesitate? The yells that awakened her were not heard distinctly, and
under the circumstances she could not believe that she was surrounded by
savages. On the other hand, if they were her friends, why did they not
relieve her? Now a sudden, but, alas! erroneous thought occurred to her.
She was persuaded that they were her friends, but that the friendly
Indian was not with them--he had perhaps directed them where she could
be found, and then returned to his home. Might not her friends, at that
moment, be anxiously searching for her? Would not one word suffice to
dispel their solicitude, and restore the lost one to their arms? She
resolved to speak. Bowing down her head slightly, so that her precise
location might not instantly be ascertained, she uttered in a soft voice
the word "FATHER!" The chief sprang from his seat, and the party was
instantly in commotion. Some of the savages looked above, among the
twining branches, and some shot their arrows in the snow, but
fortunately not in the direction of Mary while others ran about in every
direction, examining all the large trees in the vicinity. The chief was
amazed and utterly confounded. He drew not forth an arrow, nor
brandished a tomahawk. While he thus stood, and the rest of the party
were moving hurriedly about, a few paces distant, Mary again repeated
the word "FATHER!" As suddenly as if by enchantment every savage was
paralyzed. Each stood as devoid of animation as a statue. For many
moments an intense silence reigned, as if naught existed there but the
cheerless forest trees. Slowly at length, the tomahawk was returned to
the belt, and the arrow to the quiver. No longer was a desire to spill
blood mani