Sudden as was this attempt, and
rapid as was the movement, the jealous eyes and ready hands of the
chiefs seemed to anticipate it. Two shots were fired within a few
seconds after the canoe had quitted the shore. The reports of the
rifles were a declaration of hostilities, and a general yell,
accompanied by a common rush toward the river, announced that the
whole band now understood that some deception had been practised at
their expense.
Although the two chiefs in advance had been so very prompt, they
were not quick enough for the rapid movement of the canoe. The
distance between the stern of the boat and the rice-plants was so
small, that the single desperate shove given by the bee-hunter
sufficed to bury his person in the cover, before the leaden
messengers reached him. Anticipating this very attempt, and knowing
that the savages might get their range from the part of the canoe
that was still in sight, le Bourdon bent his body far over the
gunwale, grasping the rice-plants at the same time, and hauling his
little craft through them, in the way that sailors call "hand over
hand." This expedient most probably saved his life. While bending
over the gunwale, he heard the crack of the rifles, and the whizzing
of two bullets that appeared to pass just behind him.
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