he alarm, he might prove to be mistaken, and he shrank from facing the
ridicule which a false alarm would bring upon him. Should they really
prove, as he believed, to be spies, he would, if he gave the alarm,
lose the honour and glory of their capture, and their scalps would fall
to other hands--a risk not to be thought of.

He therefore waited, until six of his braves came up. He had already
retired among the trees, before he joined them; but the canoe was still
visible through the branches.

"The men we tracked have taken to the water. They are fishing. The Owl
is sure that they are not of our tribe; but he must wait, till he sees
what they will do. Let three of my brothers go and get a canoe, and
paddle out beyond them, and there fish. I will remain with the others
here. If they come back again, we will seize them. If they go out
further, my brothers will call to the redskins in the other canoes, and
will cut them off. The Owl and his friends will soon be with them."

"There is another canoe coming out, Nat," James said. "Hadn't we better
make a run for it, at once?"

"Not a bit of it, captain. Dear me, how difficult it is to teach men to
have patience! I have looked upon you as a promising pupil; but there
you are, just as hasty and impatient as if you had never spent a day in
the woods. Where should we run to? We must go up the lake, for we could
not pass the point, for fifty canoes would be put out before we got
there. We couldn't land this side, because the woods are full of
redskins; and if we led them for ten miles down the lake, and landed
t'other side, scores of them would land between here and there, and
would cut us off.

"No, lad; we have got to wait here till it's getting late. I don't say
till it's dark, but till within an hour or so of nightfall. As long as
we show no signs of going, the chances is as they won't interfere with
us. It's a part of redskin natur to be patient, and, as long as they
see as we don't try to make off, they will leave us alone. That's how I
reads it.

"You agrees with me, Jonathan?

"In course, you do," he went on, as his companion grunted an assent. "I
don't say as they mayn't ask a question or so; but I don't believe as
they will interfere with us.

"There is a fish on your line, captain. You don't seem, to me, to be
attending to your business."

James, indeed, found it difficult to fix his attention on his line,
when he knew that they were watched by hostile eyes,