The very appearance of Giles, moreover, crossing the water,
if seen by the descending boat would, he thought they
imagined, be a means of lulling the party into security,
and thus rendering them a more easy prey.
While the master and the servant were thus indulging
their opposite reflections, without, however, making any
intercommunication of them, Ephraim Giles, who had now
thrust his knife and stick into the pocket of his short
skirt, shoved off the only canoe that was to be seen,
and stepping into it, and seizing the paddle, urged it
slowly, and without the slightest appearance of hurry,
to the opposite bank, where, within less than ten minutes,
he had again hauled it up. Then, as coolly ascending the
bank, he approached one of the haystacks, and drew from
it a few handfuls of fodder which he spread upon the
ground, continuing to do so, as the cattle assembled
around, until he had gained the outermost haystack
bordering immediately upon the wood. This reached, he
gave a loud yell, which was promptly answered by the
Indians, who had continued to watch his movements up to
the very moment of his disappearance; and darting along
a narrow path which skirted the wood, ran with all his
speed towards the Fort.
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