So they
still hung back, although they raged at Henry Ware's taunts, and
permitted the Mohawks and Senecas to take the lead in the chase.
"They're not going to give us a chance," said Henry. "I'm
satisfied of that. They'll let redskins receive our bullets,
though just now I'd rather it were the two white ones. What do
you think, Sol, of that leading boat? Shouldn't we give another
hint?"
"I agree with you, Henry," said the shiftless one. They're
comin' much too close fur people that ain't properly interduced
to us. This promiskus way o' meetin' up with strangers an'
lettin' 'em talk to you jest ez ef they'd knowed you all their
lives hez got to be stopped. It's your time, Henry, to give 'em
a polite hint, an' I jest suggest that you take the big fellow in
the front o' the boat who looks like a Mohawk."
Henry raised his rifle, fired, and the Mohawk would row no more.
Again confusion prevailed in the pursuing fleet, and there was a
decline of enthusiasm. Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler raged and
swore, but, as they showed no great zeal for the lead themselves,
the Iroquois did not gain on the fugitive boat. They, too, were
fast learning that the two who crouched there with their rifles
ready were among the deadliest marksmen in existence.
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