He had already ascertained the contents of the
lodge in which were collected the woman and her young children, and
had passed several gigantic frames, stretched on different piles of
brush, which happily for him lay in unconscious helplessness, when he
reached the spot occupied by Ishmael in person. It could not escape
the sagacity of one like Mahtoree, that he had now within his power
the principal man among the travellers. He stood long hovering above
the recumbent and Herculean form of the emigrant, keenly debating in
his own mind the chances of his enterprise, and the most effectual
means of reaping its richest harvest.
He sheathed the knife, which, under the hasty and burning impulse of
his thoughts, he had been tempted to draw, and was passing on, when
Ishmael turned in his lair, and demanded roughly who was moving before
his half-opened eyes. Nothing short of the readiness and cunning of a
savage could have evaded the crisis. Imitating the gruff tones and
nearly unintelligible sounds he heard, Mahtoree threw his body heavily
on the earth, and appeared to dispose himself to sleep.
Pages:
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119