Without a word being spoken, the four made their way as swiftly as
might be to where the trail left the island.
The guard at this point was suddenly petrified by superstitious fear at
the sight of E-chee, whom he supposed to have been drowned. The figure
stood in front of him, and, as revealed by a flash of lightning, was
haggard and dripping, as though it had just risen from a watery grave.
Ere the frightened warrior could give an alarm, a stunning blow from
behind felled him to the wet earth, where he lay motionless and
apparently devoid of life.
CHAPTER XVII
DEATH OF HAS-SE (THE SUNBEAM)
On this night of storm and escape, Cat-sha, the Seminole chief, was
more than usually restless. He tossed and turned on his couch of
robes, but found it impossible to sleep. Finally he determined to make
one of his customary midnight visits of inspection to the several
guards, and to his sole remaining prisoner, the "young white chief."
As he left his lodge Cat-sha bowed his head to the bitter storm, and
drew his robe more closely about him.
On approaching the hut, in which he imagined the prisoner to be
spending his last hours of life, he found the guard standing before it,
motionless, but wide-awake, and with one corner of his robe drawn over
his head to protect it somewhat from the pelting rain. Cat-sha
questioned him as to the safety of the prisoner, and the warrior
answered that he had looked in upon him just as the storm began, and
found him quietly sleeping and securely bound.
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