Having after considerable delay
procured a torch, he entered the hut, where a single glance revealed
the startling truth. It was empty, and the severed bonds lying on the
ground, and the hole cut in the rear wall, at once told the whole
story. The prisoner of whom he had been so proud, the young white
chief for whose torture such elaborate preparations had been made, and
whom he had thought to be so safely secured, had escaped. He could not
have done so unaided; and who had thus boldly penetrated the very heart
of the village to save him? Such a thing was unheard of, and the
knowledge that it had been successfully accomplished so angered the
black-browed chief that he rushed from the hut in a terrible passion.
As he passed the warrior who stood guard at the entrance, and who was
still unconscious that anything had gone amiss, the angry chief struck
him a staggering blow in the face as a punishment for his negligence,
and then aroused the village.
While most of the angry and excited Seminoles searched the island and
the village itself, in hopes that the escaped captive would be found
somewhere in the vicinity of his late prison-house, Cat-sha followed
another plan. Hastily gathering together a small band of his best
warriors, he placed himself at their head, and they left the island by
the trail. This they followed at the top of their speed, hoping that,
had the fugitive and those who aided him taken it, they might be caught
before they reached the canoes at the head of the little lagoon.
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