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Page 42
Directing the others to proceed to where the canoes lay, Cat-sha,
accompanied by Chitta, ascended the eminence for the purpose of taking
a sweeping view of the river and the surrounding country. As they
gained the summit R�n�'s moanings warned them of his presence.
Stealing to the spot where he lay with the noiseless footfalls of wild
beasts, the two Indians stood for a moment gloating over the
unconscious lad. They fully realized the value of this unexpected and
welcome prize, for both of them recognized the young white chief the
moment their eyes lighted upon him. In another minute the poor lad had
awakened with a wild cry of terror, to find himself bound hand and
foot, and lying at the mercy of those whom he knew to be his bitterest
and most unrelenting enemies.
CHAPTER XV
R�N� IN THE HANDS OF HIS ENEMIES
Well might R�n� de Veaux feel that he had fallen into evil hands, as,
upon awakening from his troubled slumber, he found himself bound hand
and foot, and gazed into the cruel face of Chitta, lighted by a
triumphant but sneering smile. Nor did he gain any comfort by turning
his eyes to the sullen countenance of the huge Cat-sha. Neither pity
nor mercy was expressed in the slightest degree by either of the
Seminoles. Chitta thought of the revenge he was to enjoy for his
humiliating overthrow during the games at the Feast of Ripe Corn, which
he fully believed he owed to the white lad. Cat-sha knew that R�n� had
led the attack upon his band at the shell mound, and regarded him as a
brave enemy whom he should take an exquisite delight in torturing.
Loosening the bonds that encircled the boy's ankles, his captors forced
him to walk to the foot of the bluff, where the rest of their band were
gathered. These received the new prisoner with extravagant
manifestations of delight, and after all had examined him, and his
weapons had been taken from him, he was again tightly bound and thrown
into the bottom of one of the canoes. Although he had caught a glimpse
of the other white prisoners, he was not allowed to communicate with
them.
As his captors desired to keep him well and strong, they gave him food
and water, both of which he at first thought of refusing, and thus
bringing his sufferings to an end as quickly as possible. On second
thought, however, he decided that this course would be cowardly, and
unworthy of his white blood. So he ate heartily all that was offered
to him, determined to keep up his strength, and to make a desperate
effort to escape should the slightest opportunity present itself.
Having reached this decision, R�n� felt much calmer and more hopeful,
and as he was sadly in need of sleep, he determined to obtain as much
of that blessing as was possible. Shortly afterwards the Indians were
greatly astonished to find their new prisoner slumbering as quietly as
though no danger threatened him, and he had not an anxiety in the world.
While daylight lasted the Seminoles remained in that spot, but at
nightfall they launched their canoes, and set forth on their journey to
the great swamp of the Okeefenokee.
An hour later a few shadows flitted through the darkness over the
placid waters, past the two French ships that still lay at anchor near
the mouth of the river. Making no sound, they were unnoticed and
unchallenged, and in a few minutes they had turned and vanished amid
the vast salt-marshes that bounded the river on the north. Thus R�n�
de Veaux passed within a few rods of the uncle who was so anxiously
awaiting his coming, and neither of them had the slightest suspicion of
the other's presence.
Lying in the bottom of a canoe, from which he was only taken when the
Indians went into camp, R�n� knew not whither he was being taken, nor
had he any idea that he was making the very same journey that he and
Has-se had taken together some months before. He was not allowed to
communicate with, nor did he even see, the other white prisoners, for
they were carried in separate canoes, and at night all three were bound
to trees situated at considerable distances from each other.
Day after day the boy studied the faces of his captors attentively, but
among them all he found only one that betrayed the faintest evidence of
pity for his forlorn condition. Even his expression was only one of
somewhat less ferocity than that of the others, and poor R�n� imagined
that it was owing to his youth, for this Indian was but a mere lad of
even less years than himself. In fact he was the young Indian from
Seloy who had been captured by the Seminoles on the same day with R�n�.
Having unexpectedly obtained three instead of two white prisoners, and
being in need of recruits, Cat-sha had offered to spare this lad's life
and set him at liberty if he would become a Seminole and a member of
their band. This the young Indian, whose name was E-chee (the Deer),
had professed himself as willing to do, though he secretly determined
to make his escape at the very first opportunity.
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