that when I had conceived his position on
this journey, I was pained and could have blushed. How soon he may have
entertained a first surmise, we cannot know; but it was long, and the
party had advanced into the Wilderness beyond the reach of any help, ere
he was fully awakened to the truth.

It fell thus. Harris and some others had drawn apart into the woods for
consultation, when they were startled by a rustling in the brush. They
were all accustomed to the arts of Indian warfare, and Mountain had not
only lived and hunted, but fought and earned some reputation, with the
savages. He could move in the woods without noise, and follow a trail
like a hound; and upon the emergence of this alert, he was deputed by
the rest to plunge into the thicket for intelligence. He was soon
convinced there was a man in his close neighbourhood, moving with
precaution but without art among the leaves and branches; and coming
shortly to a place of advantage, he was able to observe Secundra Dass
crawling briskly off with many backward glances. At this he knew not
whether to laugh or cry; and his accomplices, when he had returned and
reported, were in much the same dubiety. There was now no danger of an
Indian onslaught; but on the other hand, since Secundra Dass was at the
pains to spy upon them, it was highly probable he knew English, and if
he knew English it was certain the whole of their design was in the
Master's knowledge. There was one singularity in the position. If
Secundra Dass knew and concealed his knowledge of English, Harris was a
proficient in several of the tongues of India, and as his career in that
part of the world had been a great deal worse than profligate, he had
not thought proper to remark upon the circumstance. Each side had thus a
spy-hole on the counsels of the other. The plotters, so soon as this
advantage was explained, returned to camp; Harris, hearing the
Hindustani was once more closeted with his master, crept to the side of
the tent; and the rest, sitting about the fire with their tobacco,
awaited his report with impatience. When he came at last, his face was
very black. He had overheard enough to confirm the worst of his
suspicions. Secundra Dass was a good English scholar; he had been some
days creeping and listening, the Master was now fully informed of the
conspiracy, and the pair proposed on the morrow to fall out of line at a
carrying place and plunge at a venture in the woods: preferring the full
ris