Once safely past it they would advance more boldly, thinking that their
own presence had been undetected. He therefore continued on down the
little stream for nearly a mile, until they reached a point where the
channel was so seriously obstructed by overhanging vines and stranded
driftwood that only a passage barely wide enough for a single canoe was
left open.
Here they drew their canoe from the water and carefully concealed it.
Then they took positions one on each side of the stream; and, hidden
behind screens of tangled vines, with arrows held ready to be fitted to
their bowstrings, they patiently awaited the coming of their unknown
pursuers.
Towards this well-planned trap, that seemed to insure their
destruction, Rene and Has-se advanced, cautiously, to be sure, but
without a warning of what awaited them. At length they had approached
within a quarter of a mile of the ambush, and one would have said that
nothing could prevent their falling into it.
At this point Has-se whispered, "Keep wide open thy ears as well as thy
eyes, Ta-lah-lo-ko"; and Rene answered also in a whisper,
"They are already so wide open that not the faintest hum of a gnat
escapes them. What's that?"
The sudden snapping of a twig by some bird or small animal caused them
to start, and listen for a moment with uplifted paddles. The canoe
thus left to itself, unguided, drifted aside, and hung for an instant
upon the upraised end of a sunken log.
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