It was several minutes before
Mahtoree seemed satisfied. He then directed his eyes along the ground
to those several places where Ishmael had found the same revolting
evidences of the passage of some bloody struggle, and motioned to his
people to follow.
The whole band advanced in a body towards the thicket, until they came
to a halt, within a few yards of the precise spot, where Esther had
stimulated her sluggish sons to break into the cover. The reader will
readily imagine that the trapper and his companions were not
indifferent observers of so threatening a movement. The old man
summoned all who were capable of bearing arms to his side, and
demanded, in very unequivocal terms, though in a voice that was
suitably lowered, in order to escape the ears of their dangerous
neighbours, whether they were disposed to make battle for their
liberty, or whether they should try the milder expedient of
conciliation. As it was a subject in which all had an equal interest,
he put the question as to a council of war, and not without some
slight exhibition of the lingering vestiges of a nearly extinct
military pride.
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