Habakkuk McEwen entered upon his strange mission with . A few seconds carried him beyond sight of the fire, and he pushed forward until two hundred yards distant, when he paused, and listened.  
He heard nothing of the Iroquois, who could not be far away.
 
"Over yonder lies the trail that leads to Stroudsburg," he said to himself, "and this is the first fair start that I've had since getting into this neighborhood. Such a promise as I made ain't ; the way Fred Godfrey has been going on, I think he's able to take care of himself, and it's about time I did the same. I'm off for Stroudsburg, and nothing short of an earthquake shall stop me this time."
 
And thereupon he started like a frightened deer through the dark woods, with the resolve that when the morrow's sun should rise he would be many a mile to the , and far beyond the reach of Jake Golcher and his Senecas.
 
Meanwhile, Fred Godfrey, having done such good service for his friend, was equally alert in making the most of it. He did not forget that the sound of his rifle would direct the Senecas to the spot whence it came, and should he remain five minutes in the tree he would be at their mercy.
 
Consequently, the smoke had scarcely risen from the of his weapon, and the death-shriek of Black Turtle was yet echoing on the air, when he came down as nimbly as a monkey and hurried from the spot.
 
The shot that he had fired was one of those unexpected things that startled the Senecas into temporary inaction, just enough to serve a quick-witted person like Fred Godfrey.
 
He was to leave the vicinity of the camp, but self-preservation commanded it, and he did not pause until a safe distance away.
 
His was that the Senecas would take revenge upon the whites for the death of their comrade, and the youth meant to return to a position that would enable him to again, even though the risk were tenfold greater than before.
 
But Fred had not listened more than a couple of minutes when he was detected by an Indian, who must have followed him some distance through the woods.
 
"Ugh! S'render—me kill!" the , bearing down upon him with upraised tomahawk.
 
"Surrender, eh? That's the way I surrender!"
 
And, to the terror of the red man, he found the muzzle of a pistol placed against his nose.
 
"Ugh! no shoot—me good Injun—ugh! Good Yengese!"
 
And the fellow, ducking his head, and from side to side, like the Digger Indians of California, in the vain effort to distract the aim of his enemy, went t............