Having got out into the Openings, it was not difficult for Peter to join his late companions without attracting observation from whence he came.  He kept as much under cover as was convenient, and reached the kitchen, just as the band broke into the defences, and burst open the door of the blazing and already roofless hut.  Here Peter paused, unwilling to seem inactive in such a scene, yet averse to doing anything that a sensitively tender conscience might tell him was wrong.  He knew there was no human being there to save, and cared little for the few effects that might be destroyed.  He did not join the crowd, therefore, until it was ascertained that the bee-hunter and his companions had escaped.

“The pale-faces have fled,” said Bear’s Meat to the great chief, when the last did approach him.  “We have looked for their bones among the ashes, but there are none.  That medicine-bee-hunter has told them that their scalps were wanted, and they have gone off!”

“Have any of the young men been down to the river, to look for their canoes?” quietly demanded Peter.  “If the canoes are gone, too, they have taken the route toward the Great Lake.”

This was so obvious and probable, that a search was immediately set on foot.  The report was soon made, and great was the eagerness to pursue.  The Kalamazoo was so crooked, that no one there doubted of overtaking the fugitives, and parties were immediately organized for the chase.  This was done with the customary intelligence and shrewdness of Indians.  The canoes that belonged to Crowsfeather and his band had been brought up the river, and they lay concealed in rushes, not a mile from the hut.  A party of warriors brought them to the landing, and they carried one division of the party to the opposite shore, it being the plan to follow each bank of the river, keeping close to the stream, even to its mouth, should it prove necessary.  Two other parties were sent in direct lines, one on each side of the river, also, to lay in ambush at such distant points, ahead, as would be almost certain to anticipate the arrival of the fugitives.  The canoes were sent down the stream, to close the net against return, while Bear’s Meat, Bough of the Oak, Crowsfeather, and several others of the leading chiefs, remained near the still burning hut, with a strong party, to examine the surrounding Openings for foot-prints and trails.  It was possible that the canoes had been sent adrift, in order to mislead them, while the pale-faces had fled by land.

It has been stated that the Openings had a beautiful sward, near Castle Meal, This was true of that particular spot, and was the reason why le Bourdon had selected it for his principal place of residence.  The abundance of flowers drew the bees there, a reason of itself why he should like the vicinity.  Lest the reader should be misled, however, it may be well to explain that an absence of sward is characteristic of these Openings, rather than the reverse, it being, to a certain degree, a cause of complaint, now that the country is settled, that the lands of the Oak Openings are apt to be so light that the grasses do not readily form as firm a turf as is desirable for meadows and pastures.  We apprehend this is true, however, less as a rule than as exceptions; there being variety in the soils of these Openings, as well as in other quarters.