Pigeonswing remained
behind, in order to act as a scout, having first communicated to
Peter the course the last ought to steer. Before the Chippewa
plunged into the cover in which it was his intention to conceal
himself, he made a sign that the band was already in sight
The heart of le Bourdon sunk within him, when he learned how near
were the enemy. To him, escape seemed impossible; and he now
regretted having abandoned the defences of his late residence. The
river was sluggish for more than a mile at that spot, and then
occurred a rift, which could not be passed without partly unloading
the canoes, and where there must necessarily be a detention of more
than an hour. Thus, it was scarcely possible for canoes descending
that stream to escape from so large a band of pursuers. The
sinuosities, themselves, would enable the last to gain fifty points
ahead of them, where ambushes, or even open resistance, must place
them altogether at the mercy of the savages.
Peter knew all this, as well as the bee-hunter, and he had no
intention of trusting his new friends in a flight down the river.
Pigeonswing, with the sententious brevity of an Indian, had made an
important communication to him, while they were moving, for the last
time, toward the canoes, and he now determined to profit by it.
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