‘It cannot be,’ replied Henrich, gently but decidedly.  ’Your father cannot travel, as we must do, with no respite or repose; and you, my Oriana, could not leave him and our boy.  You must go with them to Paomet, my love; and prepare a home for me after the fight is done.  The camp of the fierce Pequodees is no place for you.’

Oriana felt that her husband was right; and she said no more.  But she did not the less sorrowfully assist him in his preparations for the journey and the battle, or feel less keenly the grief of separation when, at daybreak on the following morning, he and his warriors were ready to set out.

‘My son,’ said Tisquantum, as he grasped the hand of Henrich, ’I have one request—­I would rather say command—­to impress upon you before we part.  Let it not be known in the camp that you are a pale-face.  I know that your good arm will bring glory on yourself and those who follow you; and I would have that glory belong to my own people, among whom you have learned to fight.  I ask it also for your own sake; for in the camp of Sassacus there may be some who regard your race with jealousy and hatred, and would not bear to see a pale-face excelling the red men.  You may trust my warriors.  They look on you as they would have done on my Tekoa.  But you may not trust either our Indian friends, or our Indian foes.’

Henrich regarded this precaution as needless; yet, when Oriana joined her entreaties to those of her father, he readily gave the promise required.  His costume and accoutrements were strictly native; and constant exposure to the air and sun had burnt his skin almost to a copper color.  But his eyes were a deep blue; and his hair, though now dark, had a rich auburn glow upon it, that differed greatly from the jet black locks so universal among the Indians.  To hide this, Oriana gathered it up into a knot on the top of his head in native fashion, and covered it with a close black cap.  Over this his Sachem’s coronet of feathers was placed; and it would have required a very scrutinising and suspicious eye to have detected the disguise.  The blue eyes alone gave intimation of an European extraction; and they were so shaded by long black lashes, and had an expression so deep and penetrating, that few could discover of what color they were.  The tongue of Hannah, too, had learnt to speak the Indian language with a pure, native accent, that no one could acquire who had not been brought up among the red men; so that there was little fear of his being known for a pale-face, amid the excitement and confusion of the war.

The warriors departed; and Tisquantum’s party resumed their journey, though not so joyously as before their separation from those who were going to meet danger, and, perhaps, death.

With unremitting speed, the Nausett braves pursued their way, and reached the land of the Pequodees before the campaign had begun.  Sassacus had, as we have seen, taken up his position in one of his boasted forts, and he wanted no reinforcements there; for his presence was regarded by his people as a panoply of strength.  He, therefore, sent to desire the Nausett detachment to march to Fort Mystic, and assist the garrison there in defending it against any attack that might he made.