While the were pushing their way through the , and especially after they had entered the more romantic and mountainous section, they had become somewhat separated from each other.  
Gravity Gimp, the colored guide, was a hundred feet in advance—a piece of imprudence that should never have been permitted, while Eva came next, Aunt Peggy directly behind her, and Maggie and her father were less than a rod distant from her.
 
Habakkuk McEwen had disappeared!
 
That which caught the attention of father and daughter while they were so earnestly, was a serpent-like "sh!" from the African, who, stopping instantly, turned part way round, and raised his hand in such a warning manner that the four paused, knowing he had made some alarming discovery.
 
Gravity remained but a second or two, when, in a stooping , he began moving back toward his friends.
 
At this , and before the little party had fully noticed the absence of McEwen, he was seen approaching from the left, with such a terrified look on his painted face that his shock hair seemed to be on end.
 
He advanced much faster than the stealthy African, and he had hardly reached his friends when he exclaimed, in a husky whisper:
 
"We're gone! it's all up!"
 
"What do you mean?" demanded Brainerd.
 
"I saw four thousand Injins just now."
 
"Where?"
 
"Right out there; I believe Colonel Butler and his of a son Walter, and Brandt, the Mohawk chief, and Queen Esther are at their head."
 
This wild assertion served to lift part of the load from the listeners, but they knew the fellow must have some grounds for his terror.
 
Before he could explain, Gravity Gimp had a word to say.
 
"Dere am Injuns all about us; de wood am full ob 'em."
 
"Tell us the truth, that we may know what to do," commanded Mr. Brainerd, sternly, while the affrighted females gathered around.
 
"I war pushing along," said the servant, "when I heerd something like de call ob birds in de woods, and I begin to smell a mouse, and I walked slower like, thinking you folks war right onto my heels. All at once I seed two Injuns stealing along—"
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