Upon returning to his prison, after the trying ordeal of being subjected to the taunts and stares of the whole village, Rene threw himself upon the ground to gain what rest he might.  Supposing that this was his last night of life, his mental sufferings kept him long awake, but at length he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.  Suddenly he found himself sitting bolt-upright, as wide-awake as ever in his life.  At first he supposed his sudden awakening to have been caused by a terrific burst of thunder that crashed overhead, but in the deep silence that followed he heard his own name pronounced in a whisper—­

“Ta-lah-lo-ko!”

Could he be dreaming?  No; it came again—­

“Ta-lah-lo-ko!”

Truly he was called, and he whispered in reply, “I am here.”

A slight rustling followed, and then the captive boy, whose wildly beating heart seemed like to burst from his breast, knew that a friend was beside him, cutting the bonds from his wrists and ankles, and whispering,

“It is Has-se, and thou art saved, oh my brother!”

Then tremblingly, and guided by the gentle hand of the Indian lad, Rene crept through the opening made by the keen knives of his friends.  In spite of all precautions, his passage through the leaves rustled them so loudly that only a violent thunder-clap coming at the same moment prevented the noise from being heard.

Without a word being spoken, the four made their way as swiftly as might be to where the trail left the island.

The guard at this point was suddenly petrified by superstitious fear at the sight of E-chee, whom he supposed to have been drowned.  The figure stood in front of him, and, as revealed by a flash of lightning, was haggard and dripping, as though it had just risen from a watery grave.

Ere the frightened warrior could give an alarm, a stunning blow from behind felled him to the wet earth, where he lay motionless and apparently devoid of life.

CHAPTER XVII

DEATH OF HAS-SE (THE SUNBEAM)

On this night of storm and escape, Cat-sha, the Seminole chief, was more than usually restless.  He tossed and turned on his couch of robes, but found it impossible to sleep.  Finally he determined to make one of his customary midnight visits of inspection to the several guards, and to his sole remaining prisoner, the “young white chief.”  As he left his lodge Cat-sha bowed his head to the bitter storm, and drew his robe more closely about him.

On approaching the hut, in which he imagined the prisoner to be spending his last hours of life, he found the guard standing before it, motionless, but wide-awake, and with one corner of his robe drawn over his head to protect it somewhat from the pelting rain.  Cat-sha questioned him as to the safety of the prisoner, and the warrior answered that he had looked in upon him just as the storm began, and found him quietly sleeping and securely bound.