The dogs were on their feet, and gave two or
three sharp barks, which had the effect to cause five or six of the
savages to lift their heads in their lairs. One arose even and threw
an armful of dried branches on the fire, producing a bright blaze,
that brought everything around the hut, and which the light could
touch, into full view.
The bee-hunter was astonished at the immovable calmness with which
Pigeonswing still stood to his tree, awaiting the approach of the
sentinel. In a few moments the latter was at his side. At first the
Pottawattamie did not perceive that the prisoner was unbound. He
threw him into shadow by his own person, and it required a close
look to note the circumstance. Boden was too far from the spot to
see all the minor movements of the parties, but there was soon a
struggle that could not be mistaken. As the Pottawattamie was
examining the prisoner, an exclamation that escaped him betrayed the
sudden consciousness that the Chippewa was unbound. The sound was no
sooner uttered than Pigeonswing made a grasp at the sentinel's
knife, which however he did not obtain, when the two closed and
fell, rolling down the declivity into the darkness.
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