It was fortunate for the youth that the situation in which he stood was
concealed entirely from the view of those in the encampment. It had been
no object with him to place himself in safety, for the consideration of
his own chance of exposure had never been looked to in his mind, when,
under the noble impulse of humanity, he had rushed forward, if possible,
to recall the little party, who either did not or were unwilling to hear
his voice of warning and prevention. Had he been beheld, there would
have been few of the squatters unable, and still fewer unwilling, to
pick him off with their rifles; and, as the event will show, the good
Providence alone which had hitherto kept with him, rather than the
forbearance of his quondam acquaintance, continued to preserve his life.
Apprized of the ascent of the pass, and not disposed to permit of the
escape of those whom the defenders of it above might spare, unobserved
by his assailants in front, Dexter, with a small detachment, sallying
through a loophole of his fortress, took an oblique course toward the
foot of the gorge, by which to arrest the flight of the fugitives.
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