He sent back no defiant cry, but, settling
into determined silence, ran at his utmost speed. The forest
here was of large trees, with no undergrowth, and he noticed that
the two parties did not join, but kept on as they had come, one
on the right and the other on the left. This fact must have some
significance, but he could not fathom it. Neither could he guess
whether the Indians were fresh or tired, but apparently they made
no effort to come within range of his rifle.
Presently he made a fresh spurt of speed, the forest opened out,
and then both bands uttered a yell full of ferocity and joy, the
kind that savages utter only when they see their triumph
complete.
Before, and far below Henry, stretched a vast, white expanse. He
had come to the lake, but at a point where the cliff rose high
like a mountain, and steep like a wall. The surface of the lake
was so far down that it was misty white like a cloud. Now he
understood the policy of the Indian bands in not uniting. They
knew that they would soon reach the lofty cliffs of the lake, and
if he turned to either right or left there was a band ready to
seize him.
Henry's heart leaped up and then sank lower than ever before in
his life.
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