bandage the children's ankles so that they could not stand. In vain Tom
peered about him for a chance of escape for himself and his charges--for
he would on no account have left them behind--but there was no hope.
His knife had been taken away from him, and all night long he was
watched by two Indians, who remained near him in a sitting posture. Even
when their dusky faces were lost in the darkness, he could see the gleam
of their piercing eyes as the fire-light flashed and faded. Once, when
the pain from his fastenings became insupportable, he complained to one
of the watchers and begged to be unbound for a moment, while a wild hope
rushed through his heart that he might then, quick as a flash, seize
Rudolph and Kitty and fly through the darkness out of the reach of his
pursuers. Vain hope! no opportunity came, though the Indian readily
complied with his request. Almost every warrior raised himself upon his
elbow in an instant, and he felt the glare of a dozen eyes upon him at
the slightest motion he made. After the Indian had loosened the
fastenings somewhat, and given Tom a drink of pure spring water, he even
offered him some parched corn, and in no unfriendly way motioned to him
to try and sleep; but all this show of kindness did not reassure Tom. He
had heard enough of Indian warfare to feel that any consideration they
might show their prisoners at first was often but a proof that they
were reserving them for the greatest cruelties afterward.

Long before daylight the next morning, the march was resumed, in the
same manner as on the previous day; and, indeed, for three or four days
it was continued over a country dense with cedar thicket, and becoming
rougher and more rocky as they journeyed on. At last, after traveling
westward for a distance of ever a hundred miles--as nearly as Tom could
estimate--they saw, afar, rising from the lowlands, the smoke of an
Indian encampment.

Some one evidently had been on the look-out for them. Before they
reached the spot, they were welcomed with loud whoops and yells.
Presently the entire community, as it seemed, turned out to receive
them--hundreds of savages, men, women, and children--who, when they saw
the prisoners, pierced the air with wild shouts of joy.

The men were painted in every conceivable way, with hideous daubs of
color upon their limbs and faces, or tattooed so as to look more fearful
still; their heads were closely shaved, leaving only a lock on the
crown, ca