"Look to thy weapons," said the former, loosening his own hunting-knife in
its sheath. "We will draw near, and make certainty of what is doubtful."

They did so, and the gun of Dudley was thrust rudely into the side of the
object of their distrust, before it again betrayed life or motion. Then,
indeed, as if further disguise was useless, an Indian lad, of some fifteen
years, rose deliberately to his feet, and stood before them in the sullen
dignity of a captured warrior. Content hastily seized the stripling by an
arm, and followed by Eben, who occasionally quickened the footsteps of the
prisoner by an impetus obtained from the breech of his own musket, they
hurriedly returned within the defences.

"My life against that of Straight-Horns, which is now of no great value,"
said Dudley, as he pushed the last bolt of the fastenings into its
socket, "we hear no more of this red skin's companions to-night I never
knew an Indian raise his whoop, when a scout had fallen into the hands of
the enemy."

"This may be true," returned the other, "and yet must a sleeping
household be guarded. We may be brought to rely on the overlooking favor
of Providence, working with the means of our own manhood, ere the sun
shall arise."

Content was a man of few words, but one of exceeding steadiness and
resolution in moments of need. He was perfectly aware that an Indian
youth, like him he had captured, would not have been found in that place,
and under the circumstances in which he was actually taken, without a
design of sufficient magnitude to justify the hazard. The tender age of
the stripling, too, forbade the belief that he was unaccompanied. But he
silently agreed with his laboring man that the capture would probably