He had heard, and read, of escapes, made by captives like himself, from Indians, when encamped by night in the woods,—­nay, of escapes made when the number of captors and the feebleness of the captive (for even women and boys had thus obtained their deliverance), rendered the condition of the latter still more wretched than his own.  Why might not he, a man and soldier, guarded by only three foemen, succeed, as others had succeeded, in freeing himself?

This question, asked over and over again, and each time answered with greater hope and animation than before, employed his mind until his wary captors had tied him to the stakes, as has been mentioned, leaving him as incapable of motion as if every limb had been solidified into stone.  Had the barbarians been able to look into his soul at the moment when he first strove to test the strength of the ligatures, and found them resisting his efforts like bands of brass, they would have beheld deeper and wilder tortures than any they could hope to inflict, ever, at the stake.  The effort was repeated once, twice, thrice—­a thousand times,—­but always in vain:  the cords were too securely tied, the stakes too carefully placed, to yield to his puny struggles.  He was a prisoner in reality,—­without resource, without help, without hope.

And thus he passed the whole of the bitter night, watching the slow progress of moments counted only by the throbbings of his fevered temples, the deep breathings of the Indians, and the motion of the stars creeping over the vista opened to the skies from the little glade, a prey to despair, made so much more poignant by disappointment and self-reproach.  Why had he not taken advantage of his temporary release from the cords, to attempt escape by open flight, when the drunkenness of the old Piankeshaw would have increased the chances of success?  He had lost his best ally in the cask of liquor; but he resolved,—­if the delirious plans of a mind tossed by the most frenzied passions could be called resolutions,—­a second day should not pass by without an effort better becoming a soldier, better becoming the only friend and natural protector of the hapless Edith.

In the meanwhile, the night passed slowly away, the moon, diminished to a ghastly crescent, rose over the woods, looking down with a sickly smile upon the prisoner,—­an emblem of his decayed fortunes and waning hopes; and a pale streak, the first dull glimmer of dawn, was seen stealing up the skies.  But neither moon nor streak of dawn yet threw light upon the little glade.  The watch-fire had burned nearly away, and its flames no longer illuminated the scene.  The crackling of the embers, with an occasional echo from the wood hard by, as of the rustling of a rabbit, or other small animal, drawn by the unusual appearance of fire near his favourite fountain, to satisfy a timorous curiosity, was the only sound to be heard; for the Indians were in the dead sleep of morning, and their breathing was no longer audible.