Frostburg mining journal., 1883-10-27
WHOLE NO. 629.

steady resolution of the actors in the
scene. The sisters shuddered and
clung closer to each other, while Hey
ward instinctively laid his hand on
one of the pistols he had just drawn
from their holster, as he placed him.
self between his charge and those
dense shadows that seemed to draw
an impenetrable veil before the bosom
of the forest.
The Indians, however, hesitated
not moment, but taking the
brides, they led the frightened and
reluctant horses into the bed of
the river.
Ats short distance from the shore,
they turned and were soon concealed
by the projection of the bank, under
the brow of which they moved, in a
direction opposite to the course of
the waters. In the mean time, the
scout drew canoe of bark from its
place of concealment beneath some
low bushes, whose branches were
waving with the eddies of the cur
rent, into which he silently motioned
the females to enter. They complied
without hesitation, though many
fearful and anxious glance was
thrown behind them, towards the
thickening gloom, which now lay
like a barrier along the margin of
the stream.
So soon as Cora and Alice were
seated, the scout, without regarding
the element, directed Hayward to
support one side of the frail vessel,
and posting himself at the other
they bore it up against the stream,
followed by the detected owner of
the dead foal. In this manner
they proceeded, for many rods, in
silence that was only broken by the
ripping of the water, as its eddies
played around them, or the low dash
made by their own cautious footsteps.
Hayward yielded the guidance of the
canoe implicitly to the scout, who
approached or receded from the
shore, to avoid the fragments of rocks
or deeper parts of the river, with
readiness that showed his knowledge
of the route they held. Occasionally
he would stop; and in the midst
of breathing stiffness, that the
dull, but increasing roar of the
waterfall only served to render more
impressive, he would listen with
painful intenseness, to catch any
sounds that might arise from the
slumbering forest. When assured
that all was still, and unable to de-
tect, even by the aid of his practised
senses, any sign of his approaching
foes, he would deliberately assume
his slow and guarded progress. At
length they reached a point in the
river, where the rowing eye of Hey
ward became riveted on cluster Of
black objects, collected at spot
where the high bank threw u deeper
shadow than usual on the dark
waters. Hesitating to advance, he
pointed out the place to the atten-
tion of his companion.
"Aye," returned the composed scout,
the Indians have hid the beasts with
judgments of natives Water leaves
no trail, and an OWLS eye would be
blinded by the darkness of such a
hole"
The whole party were soon re-
united, and another consultation was
held between the scout and his new
comrades, during which, they, whose
fates depended on the faith and in
genuity of these unknown foresters,
had little leisure to observe their
situation more minutely.
The river was confined between
high and cragged rocks, one of which
impended above the spot where the
canoe rested. AS these, again were
surmounted by tall trees, which ap-
peared to totter on the brows of the
precipice, it gave the stream the ap-
pearance of running through mar
row dell. All beneath the fantastic
limbs and ragged tree tops, which
were, here and there, dimly painted
against the starry zenith, lay alike in
shadowed obscurity. Behind them,
the curvature of the banks soon
bounded the view, by the same dark,
and wooded outline; but in front,
and apparently at no great distance,
the water sesmed piled against the
heavens, whence it tumbled into cav
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