The Wilderness Fugitives   By: Edward Sylvester Ellis (1840-1916)

THE WILDERNESS FUGITIVES BY EDWARD S. ELLIS

AUTHOR OF "DEERFOOT" SERIES, "LOG CABIN" SERIES, "BOY PIONEER" SERIES, ETC.

ILLUSTRATED

THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO., PHILADELPHIA, CHICAGO, TORONTO.

COPYRIGHTED 1893 BY THE PRICE McGILL CO.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE.

I Alone and Together, 7 II Soft and Low, 15 III Eavesdropping, 22 IV The Course of True Love, 30 V A Light Ahead, 37 VI The Fragments of the Feast, 44 VII The Report of a Gun, 51 VIII Mr. Isaac Perkins, 59 IX Border Bravery, 67 X On the River, 75 XI An Unfavorable Omen, 83 XII Forced Backward, 91 XIII New Peril, 100 XIV Diamond Cut Diamond, 107 XV A Delicate and Dangerous Task, 114 XVI Iroquois Against Iroquois, 121 XVII At Last!, 128 XVIII The Southeastern Shore, 136 XIX The Mohawk Objects, 143 XX The Longest Way Home, 152 XXI A Curious Discovery, 159 XXII Another Fugitive, 166 XXIII Doubt and Perplexity, 174 XXIV The New Guide, 182 XXV The Hiding place, 189 XXVI Curious Proceedings, 196 XXVII What Does it all Mean? 203 XXVIII Up and Doing, 210 XXIX A Startling Check, 217 XXX A Merited Fate, 227 XXXI The Mohawk Explains, 234 XXXII The Fatal Tree, 242 XXXIII Captive and Captors, 249

THE WILDERNESS FUGITIVES.

CHAPTER I.

ALONE AND TOGETHER.

The reader will recall that at the close of The River Fugitives the narrative left our friends in a situation, apparently, of safety; and the belief, on the part of Jo Minturn, his sister Rosa and Ned Clinton, was strong that, in their flight from the dreadful scenes of the Wyoming massacre of July, 1778, they had left all dangers behind. They were confident that, under the guidance of the matchless Mohawk, Lena Wingo (temporarily absent in quest of food), the road to security was beset by no perils worth the mention.

But, as has also been intimated, they were altogether wrong in this belief. Brother and sister and Ned Clinton were seated near each other on a fallen tree, and it was not yet fully dark when the soft tread of a moccasin was heard on the leaves, and they saw the tall, slim figure of the Mohawk come forth like some spirit of the forest to ask them their business in thus invading his domains. The supposition was so general that he had gone in quest of food, that a common instinct led them to look to see whether he brought anything of that nature with him. There was enough light left to show that he carried nothing but his gun.

"Well, Jack," said Ned, "we thought you had gone out foraging, but if you did, you didn't make much success of it."

"Lena Wingo didn't hunt eat he hunt something more."

"Well, did he find it?" asked Rosa, who was more daring in her questions than the others thought it prudent to be.

"Yes he find him."

"Why don't you bring him here, then, that we may see him?"

"He gone," was the direct but rather unsatisfactory answer, for there was no telling to what he referred.

Rosa was on the point of questioning him further, when it struck her that if he desired them to know what he had been doing he would tell them only when he chose. And so she forbore.