I
was not learned in Indian ways, but a glance told me that these folk
never came out of the Tidewater, and were no Cherokees of the hills or
Tuscaroras from the Carolinas. They were a new race from the west or
the north, the new race which had so long been perplexing us. Somewhere
among them was the brain which had planned for the Tidewater a sudden
destruction.
Shalah slipped noiselessly backward, and I followed him down the scree
slope, across the ravine, and then with infinite caution through the
sparse woods till we had put a wide shoulder of hill between us and the
enemy. After that we started running, such a pace as made the rush back
to the Rappahannock seem an easy saunter. Shalah would avoid short-cuts
for no reason that I could see, and make long circuits in places where
I had to go on hands and feet. I was weary before we set out, and soon
I began to totter like a drunken man. The Indian's arm pulled me up
countless times, and his face, usually so calm, was now sharp with
care. "You cannot fail here, brother," he would say, "On our speed hang
the lives of all." That put me on my mettle, for it was Elspeth's
safety I now strove for, and the thought gave life to my leaden limbs.
Every minute the air grew heavier, and the sky darker, so that when
about five in the afternoon we passed the Gap and struggled up the last
hill to the stockade, it seemed as if night had already fallen.
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