Making no sound, they were unnoticed and
unchallenged, and in a few minutes they had turned and vanished amid
the vast salt-marshes that bounded the river on the north. Thus Rene
de Veaux passed within a few rods of the uncle who was so anxiously
awaiting his coming, and neither of them had the slightest suspicion of
the other's presence.
Lying in the bottom of a canoe, from which he was only taken when the
Indians went into camp, Rene knew not whither he was being taken, nor
had he any idea that he was making the very same journey that he and
Has-se had taken together some months before. He was not allowed to
communicate with, nor did he even see, the other white prisoners, for
they were carried in separate canoes, and at night all three were bound
to trees situated at considerable distances from each other.
Day after day the boy studied the faces of his captors attentively, but
among them all he found only one that betrayed the faintest evidence of
pity for his forlorn condition. Even his expression was only one of
somewhat less ferocity than that of the others, and poor Rene imagined
that it was owing to his youth, for this Indian was but a mere lad of
even less years than himself. In fact he was the young Indian from
Seloy who had been captured by the Seminoles on the same day with Rene.
Having unexpectedly obtained three instead of two white prisoners, and
being in need of recruits, Cat-sha had offered to spare this lad's life
and set him at liberty if he would become a Seminole and a member of
their band.
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