The snow was quickly thrown out, and the war-party adjusted their weapons, with the expectation of encountering the whites; and then whirling about they retraced their steps far more swiftly than they had been advancing.  Just as the night was setting in, they came in sight of the grove where they had encamped.  They slackened their pace, and looking eagerly forward, seemed to think it not improbable that the whites had arrived in the vicinity, and might be lying in ambush awaiting their return in search of the maid.  They then abandoned the canoe, after having concealed it under some low bushes, and entered the grove in a stooping and watchful posture.  Ere long the chief attained the immediate neighbor of the spreading tree, and with an arrow drawn to its head, crept within a few paces of the spot where he had lain the preceding night.  His party were mostly a few feet in the rear, while a few were approaching in the same manner from the opposite direction.  Hearing no sound whatever, he rose up slowly, and with an “ugh” of disappointment, strode carelessly across the silent and untenanted place of encampment.

Vexation and anger were expressed by the savages in being thus disappointed.  They hoped to wreak their vengeance on the whites, and resolved to recapture the maiden.  Where they expected to find them, the scene was silent and desolate.  And they now sauntered about under the trees in the partial light of the moon that struggled through the matted branches, threatening in the most horrid manner, the one who had thus baffled them.  Some struck their tomahawks into the trunks of trees, while others brandished their knives, and uttered direful threats.  The young chief stood in silence, with his arms folded on his breast.  A small ray of light that fell upon his face exhibited a meditative brow, and features expressing both firmness and determination.  He had said that the captive should be regained, and his followers ever and anon regarded his thoughtful attitude with the confidence that his decision would hasten the accomplishment of their desires.  Long he remained thus, motionless and dignified, and no one dared to address him.

The young chief called one of the oldest of the party, who was standing a few paces distant absorbed in thought, to his side, and after a short conference the old savage prostrated himself on the snow, and endeavored, like a hound, to scent the tracks of his recreant brother.  At first he met with no success, but when making a wide circuit round the premises, still applying his nose to the ground occasionally, and minutely examining the bushes, he paused abruptly, and announced to the party that he had found the precise direction taken by the maid and her deliverer.  Instantly they all clustered round him, evincing the most intense interest.  Some smelt the surface of the snow, and others examined the bushes.  Small twigs, not larger than pins, were picked up and closely scrutinized.  They well knew that anyone passing through the frozen