and conduct which he never could understand, and often he himself
wondered what made him stand in awe of them.

Just now he bitterly reproved himself for not having followed Agnes.

"She is a girl and you are a boy," he scolded himself; "but she is a
heroine, and you are a coward. How could you let her go alone!"

He waited impatiently, but neither Agnes nor Fred returned.

Overcome with fear, he knelt down in prayer, for he was a very pious
boy.

"Good Lord," he prayed, "help Fred and Agnes and me, and let us not
perish in this wilderness. Show us a way to escape out of this trouble
that we may praise Thy glorious name. Help us for Jesus' sake."

Then as the dreary hours passed slowly and monotonously, his strength
gave way, and he soon was fast asleep.

CHAPTER X

CAPTURE AND ESCAPE

How long Matthew slept, he could not tell, but suddenly he was awake,
and some one was holding his hand over his mouth.

In the darkness the form seemed large and grotesque, and his first
impulse was to cast aside the hand and to cry out.

But then he heard a soft voice spoken almost in a whisper, and he
recognized Fred.

"Matthew," Fred whispered, "come to yourself; awake, and sit up. I
have something to tell you. Where is Agnes?"

"She went away to look for you," Matthew replied; "she left a long,
long time ago."

Fred could not suppress a painful cry.

"And she didn't come back?" he asked excitedly.

"No," Matthew muttered.

"Then she, too, was captured," Fred explained sorrowfully, "and she is
in the hands of the Indians."

"Oh! Oh!" Matthew cried bursting into tears. "What have I done?"

"Be silent now," Fred warned him. "The Indians are following me. Let
me briefly tell you how it all came about. I crept up to the place
where the boat was hidden, but found it one. There was no noise, and
so I thought I was safe. The boat might have slipped down into the
stream. I stood up and looked, when suddenly the Indians seized me,
tied me, muzzled me, and carried me off up the bank."

Matthew looked at him with dread written all over his face.

"Fred," he said, "you were captured?"

"Yes," the other replied, "I was, and those cowards at once took me
into the woods, where quite a large band of Pequots were assembled."

"I thought there were only a few," Matthew interrupted him; "just a
mere scouting party."

"There was originally," Fred continued, "but It seems as if they were
joined by anoth