Scarcely, however, had his fleeing form appeared
in the opening, when a tremendous and deafening yell rent
the air, and a dozen wild and naked warriors followed
instantly in pursuit. Attracted by that yell, the terrible
Wacousta, who had been seeking his victim in a different
quarter, bounded forward to the front with an eye flashing
fire, and a brow compressed into the fiercest hate; and
so stupendous were his efforts, so extraordinary was his
speed, that had it not been for the young Ottawa chief,
who was one of the pursuing party, and who, under the
pretence of assisting in the recapture of the prisoner,
sought every opportunity of throwing himself before, and
embarrassing the movements of his enemy, it is highly
probable the latter would have succeeded. Despite of
these obstacles, however, the fierce Wacousta, who had
been the last to follow, soon left the foremost of his
companions far behind him; and but for his sudden fall,
while in the very act of seizing the arm of his prisoner,
his gigantic efforts must have been crowned with the
fullest success. But the reader has already seen how
miraculously Captain de Haldimar, reduced to the last
stage of debility, as much from inanition as from the
unnatural efforts of his flight, finally accomplished
his return to the detachment.
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