Under this he crept, and lay,
breathless and motionless, with his head raised from the
ground, and his ear on the stretch for the slightest
noise. For several minutes he remained in this position,
vainly seeking to catch the sound of a voice, or the fall
of a footstep; but the most deathlike silence had succeeded
to the fierce yellings that had so recently rent the
forest. At times he fancied he could distinguish faint
noises in the direction of the encampment; and so certain
was he of this, he at length came to the conclusion that
the Indians, either baffled in their search, had
relinquished the pursuit, or, having encountered Oucanasta,
had been thrown on a different scent. His first intention
had been to lie concealed until the following night, when
the warriors, no longer on the alert, should leave the
path once more open to him; but now that the conviction
of their return was strong on his mind, he changed his
determination, resolving to make the best of his way to
the fort with the aid of the approaching dawn. With this
view he partly withdrew his body from beneath its canopy
of underwood; but, scarcely had he done so, when a hundred
tongues, like the baying of so many blood-hounds, again
rent the air with their wild cries, which seemed to rise
up from the very bowels of the earth, and close to the
appalled ear of the young officer.
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