He would have thought little of this, had not a slight pressure of Jonathan's hand, against his foot, told him that these were Indian signals.
Some hours passed before Nat made a move, then he touched Jonathan, and sat up in the canoe.

The signal was passed on to James, the paddles were noiselessly taken up, and, without a sound that could be detected by the most closely-listening ear, the canoe stole out again on to the lake.

Until some distance from shore they paddled very quietly, then gradually the strokes grew more vigorous, until the canoe was flying along at full speed up the lake, her course being laid so as to cross very gradually towards the eastern side.
It was not until, as James judged, they must have been several miles from the point at which they had started, that they approached the eastern shore.

They did so with the same precautions which had been adopted on the other side, and sat, listening intently, before they gave the last few strokes which took them to the shore.

Quietly they stepped out, and the two scouts, lifting the canoe on their shoulders, carried it some fifty yards into the forest, and laid it down among some bushes.