But when
the morning came, the lodge was empty. The sick Lenni-Lenape was
gone, and with him the boy, Paul, the youngest of the prisoners.
Guards bad been posted all around the camp, but evidently the two
had slipped between. Brave and advanced as were the Iroquois,
superstition seized upon them. Hah-gweli-da-et-gah was at work
among them, coming in the form of the famished Lenni-Lenape. He
had steeped them in a deep sleep, and then he had vanished with
the prisoner in Se-oh (The Night). Perhaps lie had taken away
the boy, who was one of a hated race, for some sacrifice or
mystery of his own. The fears of the Iroquois rose. If the
Spirit of Evil was among them, greater harm could be expected.
But the two renegades, Blackstaffe and Wyatt, raged. They did
not believe in the interference of either good spirits or bad
spirits, and just now their special hatred was a famished
Lenni-Lenape warrior.
"Why on earth didn't I think of it?" exclaimed Wyatt. "I'm sure
now by his size that it was the fellow Hyde. Of Course he
slipped to the lodge, let Cotter out, and they dodged about in
the darkness until they escaped in the forest. I'll complain to
Timmendiquas.
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