He could not think the danger
very great so long as one so experienced as the Chippewa felt so
much confidence in his own future proceedings; and, after talking a
short time longer with this man, the bee-hunter went to seek
Margery, in order to impart to her a due portion of his own hopes.
The sisters were preparing the breakfast. This was done without the
use of fire, it being too hazardous to permit smoke to rise above
the tops of the trees. Many is the camp that has been discovered by
the smoke, which can be seen at a great distance; and it is a
certain sign of the presence of man, when it ascends in threads, or
such small columns as denote a domestic fire beneath. This is very
different from the clouds that float above the burning prairies, and
which all, at once, impute to their true origin. The danger of using
fire had been so much guarded against by our fugitives, that the
cooking of the party had been done at night; the utmost caution
having been used to prevent the fire itself from being seen, and
care taken to extinguish it long before the return of day. A supply
of cold meat was always on hand, and had it not been, the fugitives
would have known how to live on berries, or, at need, to fast;
anything was preferable, being exposed to certain capture.
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