The confidence and alacrity
with which le Bourdon moved into the thicket, compelled his
companions to be on the alert; though the first broke through the
belt of hazels which enclosed the more open area within, a few
instants before the Indians reached the place. Then it was that
there arose such a yell, such screechings and cries, as reached far
over the prairie, and might have appalled the stoutest heart. The
picture that was soon offered to the eye was not less terrific than
the sounds which assailed the ear. Hundreds of savages, in their
war-paint, armed, and in a crowded maze, arose as it might be by one
effort, seemingly out of the earth, and began to leap and play their
antics amid the trees. The sudden spectacle of a crowd of such
beings, nearly naked, frightfully painted, and tossing their arms
here and there, while each yelled like a demon, was enough to
overcome the nerves of a very resolute man. But le Bourdon was
prepared for a conflict and even felt relieved rather than alarmed,
when he saw the savages. His ready mind at once conceived the truth.
This band belonged to the chiefs, and composed the whole, or a
principal part of the force which he knew they must have outlying
somewhere on the prairies, or in the openings.
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