contributed to the dismay of Captain de
Haldimar. The very next day was appointed for carrying into effect the
first part of the Indian plan: and how was it possible that a
messenger, even admitting he should elude the vigilance of the enemy,
could reach the distant post of Michilimackinac within the short period
on which hung the destiny of that devoted fortress. In the midst of the
confused and distracting images that now crowded on his brain, came at
length one thought, redolent with the brightest colourings of hope. On
his return to the garrison, the treachery of the Indians being made
known, the governor might so far, and with a view of gaining time, give
in to the plan of his enemies, as to obtain such delay as would afford
the chance of communication between the forts. The attempt, on the part
of those who should be selected for this purpose, would, it is true, be
a desperate one: still it must be made; and, with such incentives to
exertion as he had, how willingly would he propose his own services!

The more he dwelt on this mode of defeating the subtle designs of the
enemy, the more practicable did it appear. Of his own safe return to
the fort he entertained not a doubt; for he knew and relied on the
Indian woman, who was bound to him by a tie of gratitude, which her
conduct that night evidently denoted to be superior even to the
interests of her race. Moreover, as he had approached the encampment
unnoticed while the chiefs were yet awake to every thing around them,
how little probability was there of his return being detected while all
lay wrapped in the most profound repose. It is true that, for a moment,
his confidence deserted him as he recurred to the earnest dialogue of
the two Indians, and the sudden display of the rope and boot, the
latter of which articles he had at once recognised to be one of those
he had so recently worn; but his apprehensions on that score were again
speedily set to rest, when he reflected, had any suspicion existed in
the minds of these men that an enemy was lurking near them, a general
alarm would have been spread, and hundreds of warriors despatched to
scour the forest.

The night was now rapidly waning away, and already the cold damp air of
an autumnal morning was beginning to make itself felt. More than half
an hour had elapsed since the departure of Ponteac and his companion,
and yet Oucanasta came not. With a sense of the approach of day came
new and discouraging thoughts,