Words cannot picture the and delight of the little company in the , when their strange visitor, who so suddenly upon them, was recognized as Fred Godfrey.  
Mr. Brainerd, when the fortunate shot was fired some time before, felt just the faintest suspicion that it might be his son; but he said nothing to the others, through fear of exciting hopes that could only be disappointed.
 
Maggie, herself, thought of Fred, and prayed that it might be he; but she, too, held her peace—and now here, was her daring brother among them.
 
It required but a few minutes, after greeting his relatives, to tell of his extraordinary escape from Queen Esther, and his prolonged hunt for his friends. From what passed between him and Mr. Brainerd while making their way up the western shore, he suspected that when he should join his family, some such manner of flight would be adopted.
 
He knew of this romantic place in the rocks, but it never occurred to him until after he had wasted considerable time in hunting for traces of them.
 
He had visited the spot more than once in his hunting excursions through the Wyoming Valley, and it did not take him long to learn the condition of affairs.
 
He conducted this delicate business with such skill that his presence was never suspected by his enemies, and he did his utmost to keep it . He ventured on one or two signals, with a view of Mr. Brainerd of his , but, if that gentleman heard him, he suspected the calls were made by the Indians, and therefore paid no attention to them.
 
Understanding the which threatened his friends, Fred extended himself on the rocks above the cavern, and held the gun that he had taken from the dead body of a soldier, toward the spot.
 
Just before he was ready, Mr. Brainerd shot the , and then Fred leveled his piece for the next one. Thus it was that, instead of one rifle, there were two aimed at the second , and when the first flashed in the pan, the other completed the business.
 
This was providential, but Fred was wise enough to see that nothing like permanent safety could be gained by that kind of .
 
He ventured on another reconnoissance, and it was while he was thus engaged that Gravity Gimp emerged from the cavern, and walked straight into the trap set for him.
 
"How was it you managed to get down here?" asked Mr. Brainerd.
 
"I used a grape-vine," replied Fred; "it took me a considerable while to arrange it, and I came near slipping my hold and dropping to the bottom of the ravine, as it was."
 
"Was it a wise ?" continued the father.
 
"I hope so."
 
"Why did you not come down the regular path?" inquired Maggie; "Gravity seemed to have no difficulty in going away by it."
 
"There must be at least half a dozen Indians up there; they could have captured him without trouble, but they allowed him to get so far away that they calculated you would not suspect the danger, and might try to follow him, in which case every one of you would be in their hands this minute."
 
This information was startling, and the listeners were silent. Fred added:
 
"You can understand how great the risk was which I ran, and it is hard to explain why they didn't discover what I was doing."
 
"Perhaps they did."
 
"They would have fired on me had they known it; but there is so much deep shadow above, and they were so unsuspicious of any such proceeding, that I succeeded."
 
"It was a daring act, indeed, but what is to be the issue?"
 
"I saw that it would not do for you to remain until morning. If to-morrow's sun finds you here, you are . You have no means of obtaining any food or water, and they can a dozen rifles on you, for they will gain the position from which we kept them a while ago."
 
"They have already done so," said Mr. Brainerd. "I saw, and was unable to prevent them."
 
"That settles the matter, then; we must get out of this place within the next two hours, and be well on our way toward the Delaware by daylight. We can't venture up the path, and, therefore—hello! What's that?"
 
In t............