Long he gazed on the strange aspect of the wide savanna, as it glowed in the darkness of night, with a lurid and fearful glare, that only made the gloom more visible.  But weariness and exhaustion at length overcame him, and he fell asleep, and did not awake until the sun was high in the heavens.  The prospect around him was changed, but the plain looked even more dreary and desolate than it appeared while the fire was at work on its clothing of grass.  Now all was laid low, and smoking ashes alone covered the nakedness of the savanna.  Lincoya gazed earnestly in every direction, that he might make sure of the route he must follow in order to rejoin his friends; and his attention was attracted by the figures of two men approaching towards the tree in which he sat, and apparently engage d in earnest conversation.  For a moment his hopes led him to believe that they were Jyanough and Henrich, who had returned, probably, in search of him; and he was about to hail them with a loud and joyful cry.  But the caution so early instilled into the mind of an Indian restrained him:  and well it was for him that he had not thus given vent to his feelings.  The men drew nearer, and he saw, to his amazement, that they were Coubitant—­he whose death and burial had been so confidently reported, and Salon—­the trusty Salon—­to whom the conduct of the tribe had been deputed after the supposed death of the appointed leader.

They came beneath the tree; and, seating themselves at its foot, proceeded to refresh themselves with food and water, that looked tempting to the eyes of the fasting and parched Lincoya, as he gazed noiselessly and attentively at their proceedings, and listened to their discourse.

‘At last I have been successful, Salon,’ said Coubitant to his companion.  ’At last I may rejoice in the destruction of those I hate with so bitter a hatred.  Those burnt and broken weapons were Henrich’s, end this ornament belonged to Oriana.’  As he said this he displayed in his hand a girdle clasp, that Lincoya recognized as having been worn by the Squaw-Sachem on the previous day.  It had fallen to the ground when she gave the girdle to Henrich:  and many of his personal accoutrements had also been cast there, unheeded, in his anxiety to save Tisquantum.

’I would I could have been more sure of all the bodies that lay just beyond,’ continued the savage; ’but I think I could not be mistaken in those I most wished to find, burnt and disfigured as they were.  And the horses, too, were surely those they rode; for I knew the fragments of Tisquantum’s trappings, and recognized the form of Lincoya’s pony.  Yes! they are all destroyed; I know it, and I exult in it!  Now, who shall prevent my being Sachem of the tribe, and leading my warriors to the destruction of the detested white invaders of our land?