More than one officer now attempted to follow the fugitive
in his adventurous course; but even Lieutenant Johnstone,
the most active and experienced in climbing of the party,
was unable to rise more than a few yards above the pegs
that afforded a footing, add the enterprise was abandoned
as an impossibility. At length Wacousta was seen to gain
the extreme summit. For a moment he turned his gaze
anxiously beyond the town, in the direction of the bridge;
and, after pealing forth one of his terrific yells,
exclaimed, exultingly, as he turned his eye upon his
enemy:--
"Well, colonel, what think you of this sample of Indian
ingenuity? Did I not tell you," he continued, in mockery,
"that, if my hands were but free, I would give you a
specimen of my progress in Indian acquirements?"
"If you would avoid a death even more terrible than that
of hanging," shouted the governor, in a voice of mingled
rage and terror, "restore my daughter."
"Ha! ha! ha!--excellent!" vociferated the savage. "You
threaten largely, my good governor; but your threats are
harmless as those of a weak besieging army before an
impregnable fortress.
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