“Assuredly, if you wish, what I can I will do to facilitate thy escape.  Only tell me how.”

“You have me there in a Cornish hug,” said Philip.  “An’ I knew, I had not asked.”

“You would not have us fight for our liberty?”

“I am not so crazy as that.  Ten to one is odds that any one, except Sampson, might avoid without disgrace, and even he would not stand much chance, for all his bushy head, when bullets were flying.”

“We must out-manoeuvre them by some stratagem.”

“If Sassacus were here,” said Philip, “he could show us the way.  There is not a tree or a rock but would have something to say to him about a contrivance.”

“What would you think, Philip,” asked Arundel, (the direction of Sassacus to sound the notes of the robin, whenever he desired to see him, occurring to his mind,) “were I to conjure up the Chief?”

“I would think thee more cunning than any powah of them all, and, moreover, advise thee to keep out of the way of the elders and magistrates.”

“Keep quiet a moment, and I will try my powahing.”

So saying, the young man whistled the peculiar notes of the bird, which, in the dewy silence of night, rung wide through the Woods.

“Halt!” cried Spikeman, who instantly suspected some treachery.  “Close up around the prisoners.  Who dared make those sounds?”

No answer was returned; and, after a vain attempt to discover their author, the party resumed its march.

“If your powahing has done no other good, Master Arundel,” said Philip, “it at least frightened the General.”

“I am a beginner,” answered the young man, jestingly, “and it would not be surprising should I fail at first.  If it raise not the sagamore or one of his men before we reach the open space, I will try the spell again.”

But the notes had struck the quick ears of the Pequot chief, and at their sound he bounded forward at a pace which his companions vainly endeavored to equal, and which shortly left them out of sight; but they could hear the rustling he made tearing through the bushes, and, guided by it, followed.  The noise occasioned by the movements of so large a party, and the conversation among them, prevented the approach of the sagamore being heard, especially as when he drew nearer he proceeded with more caution.  Gliding from tree to tree, he was able to advance quite close without being discovered.  What was the rage of the chief, when, at the head of the band, he beheld his enemy, the Assistant Spikeman, leading as prisoners his friends and the little Indian girl.  Not waiting for the Knight and the Paniese to come up, fitting an arrow, he drew the deer’s sinew till the head of the missile touched the hand that held the bow, and sent it whizzing through the air.  The cavalcade had passed on, so that the front ranks were in advance of Sassacus, when he discharged the shaft, and the back of the Assistant was turned to him.  It entered