Go and dry these arms, and when you have
them so that they can send a bullet from their throats,
join Jackson and Philips in covering the boat. Weston
and I will take up our first station."
And in less time than we have taken to describe the cause
of the alarm, and the instructions given in consequence,
the men had hastened to execute the several duties assigned
to them on shore, while Cass remained, not only with a
view of showing the Indians that the boat was not wholly
unguarded, but to be enabled to inform his comrades, who
could distinctly hear him without rendering any particular
elevation of the voice necessary, of any important movement
on the part of the former. This quietude of arrangement
on the part of Corporal Nixon had, seemingly, been not
without effect. It was evident that the Indians had no
suspicion that they had been seen, and even when the men
coolly quitted the boat, they showed no impatience
indicative of an impression that the party were seeking
to shield themselves from an impending danger.
"This silence is strange enough," said the corporal to
his companion, after they had been some minutes secreted
in the cavity from which the departure of the Indian with
the boat had been arrested.
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