He soon discovered that Joe's account of them was slightly exaggerated in two important particulars.
They were only ordinary Indians, neither larger nor smaller than grown Indians usually are, and instead of a thousand there were but three of them in all.
But three fully grown Indians were enough to justify a good deal of apprehension, and if they should discover the party in the tree, Tom knew very well they would make very short work of their destruction.

He crept back to the tree therefore and again cautioned Joe and Judie, in a whisper, not to speak or make any other noise.

Then he returned to his place of observation and watched the Indians.

They soon made a crackling fire and proceeded to broil some game they had killed, this and the eating which followed occupied perhaps an hour, during which Tom made frequent journeys to the little room, nominally for the purpose of cautioning the others to keep still, but really to work off some portion of his uneasiness, which was growing with every moment.

He was terrified at first upon general principles, as any other boy of eleven years old would have been.