them all the dangers of the enterprise.

"If there was danger to none but ourselves, truly, thee should go with
us and welcome," said Nathan; representing, justly enough, the little
service that Roland, destitute of the requisite knowledge and skill,
could be expected to render, and the dangers he must necessarily bring
upon the others, in case of any, the most ordinary, difficulties arising
in their progress through the village. Everything must now depend upon
address, upon cunning and presence of mind; the least indiscretion (and
how many might not the soldier, his feelings wound up to a pitch of the
intensest excitement, commit?) must of necessity terminate in the
instant destruction of all. In short, Roland was convinced, though sorely
against his will, that wisdom and affection both called on him to play
the part Nathan had assigned him; and he submitted to be ruled
accordingly,--with the understanding, however, that the rendezvous, in
which he was to await the operations of the others, should be upon the
very borders of the village, whence he might, in any pressing emergency,
in case of positive danger and conflict, be immediately called to their
assistance.

When the twilight had darkened away, and the little river, rippling along
on its course, sparkled only in the light of the stars, the three friends
crept from their retreat, and descended boldly into the valley; where,
guided by the barking of dogs, the occasional yells of a drunken or
gamesome savage, and now and then the red glare of a fire flashing from
the open crannies of a cabin, they found little difficulty in approaching
the Indian village. It was situated on the further bank of the stream,
and, as described, just behind the bend of the vale, at the bottom of a
rugged, but not lofty hill; which, jutting almost into the river, left
yet space enough for the forty or fifty lodges composing the village,
sheltering them in winter from the bitter blasts that rush, at that
season, from the northern lakes. Beyond the river, on the side towards
the travellers, the vale was broader; and it was there the Indians had
chiefly planted their corn-fields,--fields enriched by the labour,
perhaps also by the tears, of their oppressed and degraded women.

Arriving at the borders of the cultivated grounds, the three
adventurers crossed the river, which was neither broad nor deep, and
stealing among logs and stumps at the foot of the hill, where some
industrious savage