Aunt Peggy dropped the piece of meat she was cooking, and sprang back with a gasp1. The other Indians, accustomed as they were to violence, stared in blank wonder, while those on the fallen tree leaped to their feet and gazed at the figure of the Indian as he lay on his face, with his tomahawk clenched2 in his vise-like grip.
Jake Golcher was dazed, and neither spoke3 nor stirred until Maggie, in the very depths of her agony, ran to him and exclaimed:
"What is the meaning of this? Was he seeking father's life? If he was, it was you who told him to do it!"
The Tory looked in the white face of the girl, and said, in a surly voice:
"I didn't know anything about it."
"Oh, Jake," she continued, talking rapidly, and in such mental distress4 that every eye was fixed5 upon her; "if this is your work, a just God will punish you for it. Father has never sought to injure you. We are neighbors, and belong to the same race—"
He attempted to turn away, but she caught his arm, and faced him about.
"You shall hear me. If you want human lives, take mine—take Eva's, but spare his gray hairs; do him a wrong, and as sure as our Heavenly Father reigns6 above, a punishment shall come to you. Show him mercy, treat us as human beings, and you will thank Him to your dying day that He led you aright, when you went so far astray."
She staggered back and would have fallen, had not Aunt Peggy, who, after all, was the most cool-headed one in the party, seen what was coming and caught her in her arms.
Half-supporting and half-dragging her, she got her back to the tree, where she gently seated her.
Poor Maggie threw her arms around the good woman's neck and gave way to hysterical9 sobbing10, while her aunt tried to soothe11 her.
Mr. Brainerd sat like a statue, but his lips trembled, and it required all the power of his will to keep from breaking down as utterly12 as did Maggie herself, who, flinging one of her arms around weeping Eva, gathered her and their aunt in an embrace, and surrendered to her tempest of grief.
The Senecas looked on, but if there was any glimmering13 of tenderness in their nature it did not struggle to the surface, and the trees around them could not have betrayed less emotion.
As for Jake Golcher, he scanned the picture with darker passions than those of the savages14 themselves.
He did not stir, but, when he saw Habakkuk McEwen look inquiringly at him, he beckoned15 him to approach.
The frightened fellow sprang to his feet and hurried across the short space, eager to do anything to win the favor of the other.
"Do you know who shot that Indian?" asked the Tory, in an undertone.
"I haven't the least idea."
"It was Fred Godfrey; he is somewhere near. The shot sounded out yonder"—pointing in the proper direction—"and, if you want to save your life, you must go out and bring him in."
He turned about to start upon his strange errand, when Golcher commanded him to stop.
"How are you going to do it?"
"Catch him by the neck and heels, and drag him along."
"Don't you see the Senecas are starting off to hunt him up?"
It was true. The red men quickly recovered from the shock, and, knowing who fired the shot, were stealing off into the woods in search of the youth, who had given proof of his presence near them.
Almost every one was able to tell the point whence came the familiar bullet, and it will be understood that Fred Godfrey took his life in his hand when he interposed to save his father.
"I don't believe they will find him," said Jake Golcher, alluding17 to the Senecas, who were moving off in the darkness; "but you can join him, because he takes you for a friend; go out in the woods, signal to him, and when you find him, get him to come nigh enough to be catched. You can do it, and if you succeed, you shall be spared. Don't think," added the Tory, significantly, "that because we let you jine in the hunt you can slip off in the dark."
"Oh, I never thought of such a thing," protested the New Englander. "I always keep my promise, and I'll bring him back."
"There isn't one of these folks that can get away, for the Senecas are all around us. Gray Panther will soon be here with twenty more, and then we shall have 'em all."
If this were the case, Habakkuk might well have asked why Golcher wished him to join in the search. But if such a question came to the mind of McEwen he did not utter it.
"If you try to run away you'll be brought back here and tomahawked inside of half an hour; do your duty, and I'll take care of you; after you get out there in the dark you can signal to him in such a way that he'll show himself, and then you must prove your smartness by getting him to come with you to some p'int where we can pounce18 onto him. Do you understand?"
"It's all as plain as the nose on your face," said Habakkuk.
"Then be off with you!"
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1
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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2
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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3
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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4
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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5
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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6
reigns
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| n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 )；君主统治时期；任期；当政期 | |
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7
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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8
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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9
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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10
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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11
soothe
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| v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承 | |
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12
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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13
glimmering
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| n.微光，隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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14
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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15
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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17
alluding
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| 提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 ) | |
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18
pounce
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| n.猛扑；v.猛扑，突然袭击，欣然同意 | |
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