I looked back and
saw them thus, and wondered idly how many minutes they would
wait before putting on the black paint. Of Nantauquas we had seen
nothing. Either he had gone to the forest, or upon some pretense he
kept within his lodge.
We bade farewell to the noisy throng who had brought us upon our
way, and went down to the river, where we found a canoe and
rowers, crossed the stream, and, bidding the rowers good-by,
entered the forest. It was Wednesday morning, and the sun was
two hours high. Three suns, Nantauquas had said: on Friday, then,
the blow would fall. Three days! Once at Jamestown, it would
take three days to warn each lonely scattered settlement, to put the
colony into any posture of defense. What of the leagues of
danger-haunted forest to be traversed before even a single soul of
the three thousand could be warned?
As for the three Indians, - who had their orders to go slowly, who
at any suspicious haste or question or anxiety on our part were to
kill us whom they deemed unarmed, - when they left their village
that morning, they left it forever. There were times when Diccon
and I had no need of speech, but knew each other's mind without;
so now, though no word had been spoken, we were agreed to set
upon and slay our guides the first occasion that offered.
CHAPTER XXXIV IN WHICH THE RACE IS NOT TO THE SWIFT
THE three Indians of whom we must rid ourselves were approved
warriors, fierce as wolves, cunning as foxes, keen-eyed as hawks.
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