A cordon of axmen was quickly formed, about the island, and the great trees came crashing down, forming bridges over which the great force of warriors could rush to the attack. The work was quickly done, and then at the command of the chief four hundred warriors rushed on together, uttering their fearful war-cries. They broke through the abatis of tangled limbs unopposed and reached the fort only to find it tenantless. The white rangers had escaped, how they could not tell, leaving nothing to show where they had departed, but all knew that it must have been in the interval of time which elapsed between the last attack on the fort and the coming of Black-Hawk. Black Will was nearly beside himself with anger, and a pursuit was at once commenced, when the trail was found. But, the “scout” had half an hour’s start, and he feared that they would reach the river before they could be overtaken, and their leader’s fertile brain would quickly study out some way of crossing the stream. Although having but little hope, Black-Hawk sent out a hundred of the best Sac warriors under the command of Ma-she-eschuck, and the pursuit was pressed with ardor. While this was being done, Jackwood sent Garrett with five men to find Sadie, and conduct her to a place of safety, strictly enjoining him to use her well but upon no account to suffer her to escape. Dick Garrett hurried his men to the spot where he had left Sadie, and as he approached it his countenance began to change for he heard nothing of the men he had left in charge of the girl. “Hurry up, boys,” he cried; “if they have lost her, I’ll not be the man to go back to Black Will Jackwood and tell him of it. Ha! Look at that.” The three men who had been left with Sadie lay upon the earth under the shadow of the trees. Their faces were upturned to the sky, and it needed no prophet to tell that they were dead, and the party broke into a run and reached the spot. Two of them had been shot through the heart, evidently with pistol balls, and the third had half a dozen knife wounds upon him, and they saw on every hand evidences of a desperate struggle, while Sadie was nowhere to be seen. The men paused and looked at each other in unspeakable dismay, for they knew Jackwood too well to dare face him, and tell him what had happened. “He’d kill me!” screamed Garrett. “Look here, boys; we’ve got to find this girl before we go back, so take the trail at once, and follow. We’ll have her back, if she is above ground, and avenge these poor fellows who lie dead. I only wish we had Tom Bantry now; he was the best scout among us.” “What made you leave him in the river then?” said one of the men, in a sullen tone. “He won’t come back no more, Tom won’t, and like enuff he’ll turn against us.” “Don’t be mutinous, Tracey,” said Garrett, turning a dark look upon the speaker. “You know _me_, and you know I never waste words. Be mighty careful; _I_ would, if I was you.”