No word was spoken until all were seated and their stone pipes were well alight, when Rene, standing in their midst, addressed them and said,

“Wise men of the Alachuas:  it is now many moons since thou didst receive Ta-lah-lo-ko into thy tribe, and open wide thy hearts to him.  In all this time he has been as one with thee in everything.  Now he would go.  His own people, the pale-faces who dwell beyond the land of sunrise, and beyond the great salt-waters, have come again.  The heart of Ta-lah-lo-ko sings for joy within him at the thought of seeing them once more.  The pledge of the Flamingo Feather holds him no longer, for the old man to whom it was given has passed away.  But the singing and gladness of his heart is turned to sighing and to sadness by the thought that he may never again see the land of the Alachuas.  This may not be; for if it is possible for him, he will come again from beyond the great waters.  Now he must go to his own people, who have many wrongs to set right, and must do much fighting before they turn again towards the sunrise.  They call for help from the brave Alachuas.  Ta-lah-lo-ko and his own war-party will hasten to them.  When the fighting is done, they will return; but he must go first to the land of the pale-faces.  Until he comes, the brave and wise Yah-chi-la-ne will guide your councils, and lead you on the war-path.  Ta-lah-lo-ko has spoken.”

As Rene sat down, Yah-chi-la-ne and others sprang to their feet, and begged him not to leave them.  Yah-chi-la-ne declared that as he had taken the place of Has-se (the Sunbeam), so he had become a flood of sunlight to them, and that in losing him they would be buried in darkness.

These appeals stirred his feelings deeply, but could not alter his fixed purpose; and when they saw that he was determined to leave them, they opposed him no longer, but only begged of him that he would speedily return.

So Rene de Veaux, at the head of his own war-party of picked Alachua braves, set forth once more on the same journey that he had now made so many times, and under such different circumstances.

As the canoe which bore him shot out from the shore into the middle of the river, and was headed up against the current, there arose from the multitude collected on the bank a mighty cry of lamentation for the young chief who was departing from them.  For answer Rene, standing up so that all might see him, took the Flamingo Feather that was entwined in his hair, waved it above his head, and replaced it.  This was a sign that, though he was leaving them, he would return again, and by it they were greatly comforted.