Indians of North America -- Juvenile fiction; Pioneers -- West (U.S.) -- Juvenile fiction; Slavery -- Juvenile fiction
While we were holding down the man, I examined his countenance, and was
sure that he was one of those who had so outrageously attacked our
house, I therefore felt no compunction at the way we were treating him.
Had he shown any courage, he might possibly have freed himself, but we
managed--not without some difficulty--to lash his arms behind him, and
to bind his legs so that he could move neither hand nor foot.
"The best thing we can do with him is to place him in the canoe, and let
him remain there until we have discovered the little girls, for, depend
upon it, his companions have carried them off, probably with the
intention of holding them as hostages until we deliver up Dio," observed
Mr Tidey.
We had also another reason for keeping him a prisoner, to which,
however, Mr Tidey did not allude in his presence. Without loss of
time, we partly dragged and partly lifted him up to the canoe, into
which we tumbled him without much ceremony.
"If you attempt to struggle, you'll kick a hole in the canoe and go to
the bottom, my friend; so I would advise you to keep quiet," said the
Dominie.
The man only answered with a volley of oaths, but no further information
could we draw from him. We therefore left him to his own reflections,
while we hastened back to Rose, whom we found seated by her prisoner.
"He stay berry quiet," she said, "an' me no tinkee he run 'way."
"That may be, but we will secure him as we have done his companion,"
said Mr Tidey, producing a piece of rope which he had brought with him
from the canoe; and, dragging the Indian to a tree, we lashed him so
securely to it, that we believed with all his cunning he could not set
himself free.
"Now let us continue our search for the little girls and Dio," said the
Dominie; "depend upon it, they cannot be far off. Probably they are
somewhere near the shores of the lake, and if we approach their captors
cautiously, we may master them as we have the other man."
I suggested that we should paddle round the shores of the lake in the
canoe, and as they were probably expecting her arrival with two men in
her, they would not suspect who we were until we got close up to them.
The Dominie, after a little consideration, agreed to my proposal.
"What are we to do with Rose?" he asked.
"She can lie down at the bottom of the canoe, and assist in keeping our
prisoner quiet, unless she will consent to remain behind," I observed.
"No, no, me go with massa!" she exclaimed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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