Great was the confusion that followed this startling yell
on the decks of the schooner. "Cut the hell-fiend
down!"--"Chuck him overboard!"--" We are betrayed!"--"Every
man to his gun!"--"Put the craft about!" were among the
numerous exclamations that now rose simultaneously from
at least twenty lips, and almost drowned the loud shriek
that burst again from the wretched Clara de Haldimar.
"Stop, Mullins!--Stop, men!" shouted Captain de Haldimar,
firmly, as the excited boatswain, with two or three of
his companions,--now advanced with the intention of
laying violent hands on the Indian. "I will answer for
his fidelity with my life. If he be false, it will be
time enough to punish him afterwards; but let us calmly
await the issue like men. Hear me," he proceeded, as he
remarked their incredulous, uncertain, and still threatening
air;--"this Indian saved me from the tomahawks of his
tribe not a week ago; and, even now, he has become our
captive in the act of taking a note from me to the
garrison, to warn them of their danger. But for that
slumbering fool," he added, bitterly, pointing to Fuller,
who slept when he should have watched, "your fort would
not now have been what it is,--a mass of smoking ruins.
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