Sam Hardwicke took little Judie up in his arms, and, quick as thought calculated the chances of reaching the fort.
Clearly the only way in which he could possibly get there, was by leaving his little sister to her fate and running for his life.

But Sam Hardwicke was not the sort of boy to do anything so cowardly as that.
Abandoning the thought of getting to the fort, he called to Tom to follow him, and with Judie in his arms, he ran into a neighboring thicket, where the three, with Joe, a black boy of twelve or thirteen years who had followed them, concealed themselves in the bushes.

Whether they had been seen by the Indians or not, they had no way of knowing, but their only hope of safety now lay in absolute stillness.

They crouched down together and kept silence.
"What's we gwine to do here, I wonder," whispered the black boy.

"Whar mus' we go, Mas Sam ?" Sam did not answer.