But the
dogs soon left the dead body, and came bounding across the marsh,
disregarding its difficulties; though their plunges and yells soon
made it apparent that even they did not escape altogether with dry
feet. As for the savages, they poured down the declivity in a
stream, taking the dogs as their guides; and safe ones they might
well be accounted, so far as the SCENT was concerned, though they
did not happen to be particularly well acquainted with all the
difficulties of the path.
At length le Bourdon paused, causing his companion to stop also. In
the hurry and confusion of the flight, the former had lost his
landmarks, finding himself amidst a copse of small trees, or large
bushes, but not in the particular copse he sought. Every effort to
get out of this thicket, except by the way he had entered it, proved
abortive, and the dogs were barking at no great distance in his
rear. It is true that these animals no longer approached: for they
were floundering in the mud and water; but their throats answered
every purpose to lead the pursuers on, and the low calls that passed
from mouth to mouth, let the pursued understand that the
Pottawattamies were at their heels, if not absolutely on their
trail.
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