You must go to the potato field Tom, and bring some." There had been but one field of corn in the neighborhood at first, and the various parties of Indians who had camped in its vicinity had long ago carried away the last ear of corn from that, as the boys knew very well.

The river was altogether too high now for mussels to be got, and so the sweet potatoes in a field half a mile away, were their only resource.
Tom set out at once in quest of them, carefully looking out for lurking savages.

He was gone more than an hour, and just as Sam was growing really uneasy on his account, he returned, _empty handed_! "There isn't a potato in the field," he said as he sat down in utter dejection.

"The Indians have dug every one of them." This announcement was indeed an alarming one to the whole party.

They were without an ounce of food of any sort within their utmost reach, and it was plain that they must starve, unless they could hit upon some new device, by which to get a supply.
"I must go hunting, sick or well," said Sam rising; but he had no sooner got upon his feet, than he felt the utter impossibility of doing anything of the kind.
"It's of no use," he said sadly.