HOME AGAIN. 185 



whole baud hurried down to where a poiut ran out into the river. 

 They leaped from root to root, and crossed the marsh where a hare 

 would have floundered in the mud; they swung themselves, by 

 hanging vines, over deep pools of black water, and their tawny 

 bodies, as lithe as the copper-head snakes that slid from the logs 

 they trod on, appeared and disappeared through the tangled woods 

 until they at length reached the point of land around which the 

 boats were sweeping, impelled by four oars each, and keeping well 

 out in the river. Tustenuggee watched the flotilla coming with an 

 eye that would have transfixed a lonely traveller, so much had it 

 grown and brightened by excitement. He knew his prey was 

 escaping, for it would be a long shot to those canoes, and no matter 

 how strong his own force, he would be unwilling to hazard an open 

 attack on sixteen men as accustomed to the rifle as those before 

 him. The Indians were careful not to be seen from the boats, and 

 crouched down behind any cover they could find, hoping that some 

 of the canoes might approach near enough to afford them a shot. 

 But Mike, who led the fugitive fleet, was too wary for that, but 

 inclined the boats away from a point that he was conscious might 

 afford a cover to a foe, and nearer the low timber that, growing in 

 the water, would form but a poor footing for an ambuscada The 

 negroes bent to their oars, and the boats skimmed fast, making the 

 curve in beautiful order, and had entirely passed the point, when 

 the shrill report of a dozen guns sounded on the stillness of the 

 forest, and the water near the boats was spattered by the bullets. 

 Then followed the tremulous, fierce, prolonged war-whoop, and as 

 it died away, Mike's taunting answer, with a gesture of derision, 

 came back. Two or three of the savages had not fired with the 

 rest of the band, but had reserved their shots for a better oppor- 

 tunity. The opportunity came as the last boat, steered by Jackson 

 himself, swept down with the tide. He had seen the futility of 

 the preceding discharge, and regarding the boats as entirely out of 

 range of the guns, had rather cut the segment of the semicircle 

 than followed its outer curve. As he came opposite the point two 

 guns were discharged almost simultaneously, and at the report 

 Jackson dropped his steering-oar, and raised his hand to his side. 

 A taunting cry was echoed from the shore, and a number of 



