Here, firing from a bluff, he
wounded a third. Both then plunged head-foremost into the water,
and by keeping below the surface, got away. The adventure gave
Beverley new spirit and self-reliance; he felt that he could
accomplish anything necessary to his undertaking. In the captured
pirogue he crossed the river, and, to make his trail hard to find,
sent the little craft adrift down the current.
Then alone, in the dead of winter, he took his bearings and struck
across the dreary, houseless plain toward St. Louis.
As soon as Hamilton's discomfited scouts reported to him, he sent
Long-Hair with twenty picked savages, armed and supplied for
continuous and rapid marching, in pursuit of Beverley. There was a
large reward for bringing him in alive, a smaller one for his
scalp.
When Alice heard of all this, her buoyant and happy nature seemed
entirely to desert her for a time. She was proud to find out that
Beverley had shown himself brave and capable; it touched her love
of heroism; but she knew too much about Indian warfare to hope
that he could hold his own against Long-Hair, the wiliest and
boldest of scalp-hunters, and twenty of the most experienced
braves in Hamilton's forces. He would almost certainly be killed
and scalped, or captured and brought back to be shot or hanged in
Vincennes. The thought chilled and curdled her blood.
Pages:
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243