the party had advanced into the
Wilderness beyond the reach of any help, ere he was fully awakened to the truth.
    It fell thus. Harris and some others had drawn apart into the woods for
consultation, when they were startled by a rustling in the brush. They were all
accustomed to the arts of Indian warfare, and Mountain had not only lived and
hunted, but fought and earned some reputation, with the savages. He could move
in the woods without noise, and follow a trail like a hound; and upon the
emergence of this alert, he was deputed by the rest to plunge into the thicket
for intelligence. He was soon convinced there was a man in his close
neighbourhood, moving with precaution but without art among the leaves and
branches; and coming shortly to a place of advantage, he was able to observe
Secundra Dass crawling briskly off with many backward glances. At this he knew
not whether to laugh or cry; and his accomplices, when he had returned and
reported, were in much the same dubiety. There was now no danger of an Indian
onslaught; but on the other hand, since Secundra Dass was at the pains to spy
upon them, it was highly probable he knew English, and if he knew English it was
certain the whole of their design was in the Master's knowledge. There was one
singularity in the position. If Secundra Dass knew and concealed his knowledge
of English, Harris was a proficient in several of the tongues of India, and as
his career in that part of the world had been a great deal worse than
profligate, he had not thought proper to remark upon the circumstance. Each side
had thus a spy-hole on the counsels of the other. The plotters, so soon as this
advantage was explained, returned to camp; Harris, hearing the Hindustani was
once more closeted with his master, crept to the side of the tent; and the rest,
sitting about the fire with their tobacco, awaited his report with impatience.
When he came at last, his face was very black. He had overheard enough to
confirm the worst of his suspicions. Secundra Dass was a good English scholar;
he had been some days creeping and listening, the Master was now fully informed
of the conspiracy, and the pair proposed on the morrow to fall out of line at a
carrying place and plunge at a venture in the woods: preferring the full risk of
famine, savage beasts, and savage men to their position in the midst of
traitors.
    What, then, was to be done? Some were for killing the Master on