Page:Barbour--Metipoms Hostage.djvu/169

Rh it might be, still existed. But before long they stopped in a small clearing and  his captors gave him some parched corn to  eat and ate some themselves. Then the Indian who had led the way disappeared through the forest toward where David  thought the village must lie. The boy stretched himself upon the ground and,  watched sourly by the remaining savage,  soon slept the sleep of exhaustion.

He awoke with a hand tugging at his shirt. The Indian who had gone away was back, and when David had got sleepily to his feet  they went on once more, this time toward  the village. But a few minutes brought them to the edge of the forest, and there, no more  than a half-mile distant, stood the palisade. And so, tired and discouraged, ragged and bruised, David came again to the gate in the  fort and back into captivity. Past the Indian hovels and the snarling dogs, observed incuriously by the inhabitants, past the great  lodge of the sachem, he was led to his own  wigwam and there, pushed ungently through  the entrance by his captors, he fell to the  ground and knew no more for a long while.

When he awoke it was late afternoon. He was sore and weary, and, although he had no