Oonomoo was fully aware that the delicate structure of the canoe was no obstruction at all against a rifle-shot.  Accordingly, while descending the river, he had taken precaution to insure his safety, in case of such an occurrence as had now transpired.  A large, rotten limb, hardly the length of his own body, was carried with him.  At the moment of lifting the canoe from the ground, the limb was placed within it, and thus was carried back to the edge of the river.  Lying flat upon his face, this limb was about the thickness of the Huron’s waist, and by skillfully balancing the boat, it was interposed directly between him and his foes.  The only parts of his person which possibly could be struck were his feet and the arm stretched over the side of the canoe.  The former necessarily being in the stern, it was hardly probable that they would be wounded.  There was such risk of the arm that Oonomoo drew it within the boat for a few moments.  He had scarcely done so, when the reports of two rifles, and the peculiar zip of the bullets as they cut through the side of the canoe and buried themselves in the rotten wood, proved how wise was the precaution he had taken.

Quick as thought, the hand of the Huron was in the water again, where, as he vigorously used it, it flashed like some fish at play.  The Shawnees, who plainly discerned the two holes their bullets had made, could scarcely believe their daring foe had escaped injury.  But they were forced to believe he was still living from the fact that the canoe steadily progressed across and was not carried down-stream by the current.  The whoop of the Shawnees had been heard by their comrades further down the bank.  As the canoe reached the middle of the river, they caught a sight of it, and readily conjectured the true state of the case.  In a twinkling, two of their own were launched in pursuit.  Discovering this, Oonomoo arose to the upright position, and dipping his paddle deep in the water, sent his boat forward with astonishing swiftness.  As it lightly touched the bank, he leaped ashore and pulled it up after him.  Then uttering a defiant yell, he turned, and to show the scorn in which he held the Shawnees, walked slowly and deliberately into the forest.  Once fairly beyond their sight, however, his pace quickened, and when the sun sunk low in the western horizon, he was many a mile from the Miami.

CHAPTER IV.

THE YOUNG LIEUTENANT AND CATO.

  Suddenly rose from the South a light, as in autumn the blood-red
  Moon climbs the crystal walls of heaven, and o’er the horizon,
  Titan-like, stretches its hundred hands upon mountain and meadow,
  Seizing the rocks and the rivers and piling huge shadows together. 
          —­LONGFELLOW.