"Hurry up, there," called an authoritative voice from the half circle of troopers.
"All ready," called back Tom. Then in a whisper, he said, "Out with your knife, Tim and slice those wrist cords, and when I throw the end of this rope up into the tree, over the edge we must go. Relax your muscles and drop. Understand?" he asked, turning to the Indian.
Tim stepped behind the redskin, and with one strong pull, severed the rope about his wrists. The Indian never moved his arms to indicate to the others what had been done, and at that minute Tom hurled the end of the rope high into the air, and instantly dropped over the edge of the cliff.
The other two followed on Tom Dare's heels, and a volley rang out almost coincidently.
The Indian party, with Dick and Fritz, reached a point where the trails divided early that morning. With the coming of daylight their spirits rose, and the encounter of the previous night took on a more encouraging aspect. They had undoubtedly caused considerable loss to the company of British, and had escaped with but few wounds themselves. Telca was anxious to trap the Redcoats in some deep gorge, where the Indians would have the pursuing party at their mercy, and was hurrying on so as to keep out of the reach of their antagonists until the right moment should arrive. Dick and Fritz were anxious to reach the Ohio river near Fort Pitt, for there they hoped to get canoes to carry them down the river to a point directly south of Vincennes. Here Dick proposed to strike off through a forest trail and then travel north again to their final destination.
"Which way do we go now?" asked Dick of the chief.
"The bottom road," replied Telca. "All spread out here," he commanded, "we go up part way, come down again, so," and he showed the boys how they were to climb some distance up alongside of the trail and descend backwards so that the footprints would all point toward the top. By scattering over a wide space they would lead the British into thinking that they had decided to take to the upper path and had scattered to hide their trail, and by edging toward the right when they descended they would be able to come down on the branch track around the spur of the mountain and follow that to the end of the valley.