FRENAU.
Away started Niniotan like a fawn, his father following at a rate that
kept both within a few feet of each other. The densest portions of the
wood seemed to offer them no impediments, as they glided like rabbits
through them. The boy trailed a rifle in his right hand with as much
ease and grace as a full-grown warrior, and the speed which he kept up,
mile after mile, seemed to have as little effect upon him as upon the
indurated frame of his father. The step of neither lagged, and their
respiration was hardly quickened. The dark eyes of Niniotan appeared
larger, as if expanded with terror, and looked as if they were fixed
upon some point, many leagues away in the horizon. The habitual gloomy
expression rested upon the face of Oonomoo, and it needed no skillful
physiognomist to read the signs of an unusual emotion upon his swarthy
countenance. It was seen in the dark scowl, the glittering eye, and
the compressed lip, although he spoke not a word until they had
penetrated far into the forest.
In something less than an hour, the swamp, in the interior of which was
the Huron's lodge, was reached; but instead of taking the usual route
to it, Niniotan diverged to the left, until they reached a portion of
the creek that was less swampy in its character. Running along its
bank a few moments, the boy came upon a canoe, which he shoved into the
water, and, springing into it, took his seat in front.
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