The rain had extinguished the watch-fire, which it was customary to keep burning in the middle of the village during the night, and thus it would be somewhat difficult for the Seminole chief to procure a light with which to examine for himself into the condition of the prisoner.  He therefore accepted the assurance of the guard that he was still safely confined within the hut; for, indeed, how could it be otherwise?  Such a thing as escaping seemed too utterly impossible to be worthy a thought.

So Cat-sha passed on, and bent his steps in the direction of the sentinel who kept watch at the end of the trail.  At first he was not to be discovered, nor did he answer when challenged, and Cat-sha was rapidly becoming both angry and surprised, when all at once he stumbled, and almost fell over the prostrate form of him whom he sought.  The warrior was still unconscious, for the terrible blow that felled him had been delivered but a few minutes before Cat-sha’s discovery of his condition.

At this state of affairs, the wily Seminole at once took an alarm.  To be sure, he reflected that the sentinel might have been struck by a lightning-flash or seized with a sudden illness.  Still he might have also received a blow from the hand of an enemy, and the mere thought that such might have gained access to the island, and even now be lurking within its limits, made the chief hot with anger.

His first thought was for the safety of the prisoner; and leaving the unconscious warrior where he lay, he hurried back to the hut he had just left, determined to trust only the evidence of his own eyes as to the condition of its occupant.  Having after considerable delay procured a torch, he entered the hut, where a single glance revealed the startling truth.  It was empty, and the severed bonds lying on the ground, and the hole cut in the rear wall, at once told the whole story.  The prisoner of whom he had been so proud, the young white chief for whose torture such elaborate preparations had been made, and whom he had thought to be so safely secured, had escaped.  He could not have done so unaided; and who had thus boldly penetrated the very heart of the village to save him?  Such a thing was unheard of, and the knowledge that it had been successfully accomplished so angered the black-browed chief that he rushed from the hut in a terrible passion.  As he passed the warrior who stood guard at the entrance, and who was still unconscious that anything had gone amiss, the angry chief struck him a staggering blow in the face as a punishment for his negligence, and then aroused the village.