Meanwhile, Lieutenant Johnstone had come up, and, seeing
his companion struggling as he presumed, with advantage,
with his severely wounded enemy, made it his first care
to secure the unhappy girl; for whose recovery the pursuit
had been principally instituted. Quitting his rifle, he
now essayed to raise her in his arms. She was without
life or consciousness, and the impression on his mind
was that she was dead.
While in the act of raising her, the terrible Wacousta
stood at his side, his vast chest heaving forth a laugh
of mingled rage and contempt. Before the officer could
extricate, with a view of defending himself, his arms
were pinioned as though in a vice; and ere he could
recover from his surprise, he felt himself lifted up and
thrown to a considerable distance. When he opened his
eyes a moment afterwards, he was lying amid the moving
feet of his own men.
From the instant of the closing of the unfortunate
Valletort with his enemy, the Indians, hastening to the
assistance of their chief, had come up, and a desultory
fire had already commenced, diverting, in a great degree,
the attention of the troops from the pursued.
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