“Are we certain these are the same canoes as those which I saw pass this afternoon?” asked Margery, who comprehended the difficulty in an instant.  “Of those I saw, two passed first, and one followed; while here are four that have landed.”

“What you say may be true enough.  We are not to suppose that the canoes you saw pass are all that are on the lake.  But let the savages be whom they may, prudence tells us to keep clear of them if we can; and this more so than ever, now I can see that Pigeonswing, who I know to be an American Injin, is treated by them as an enemy.”

“How are the savages employed now, Bourdon?  Do they prepare to eat, or do they torture their prisoner?”

“No fear of their attempting the last to-night.  There is an uneasiness about them, as if they still smelt the liquor; but some are busy cooking at the fire.  I would give all my honey, pretty Margery, to be able to save Pigeonswing!  He is a good fellow for a savage, and is heart and hand with us in this new war, that he tells me has begun between us and the English!”

“You surely would not risk your own life to save a savage, who kills and scalps at random, as this man has done!”

“In that he has but followed the habits of his color and race.  I dare say we do things that are quite as bad, according to Injin ways of thinking.  I do believe, Margery, was that man to see me in the hands of the Pottawattamies, as I now see him, he would undertake something for my relief.”

“But what can you, a single man, do when there are twenty against you?” asked Margery, a little reproachfully as to manner, speaking like one who had more interest in the safety of the young bee-hunter than she chose very openly to express.

“No one can say what he can do till he tries.  I do not like the way they are treating that Chippewa, for it looks as if they meant to do him harm.  He is neither fed, nor suffered to be with his masters; but there the poor fellow is, bound hand and foot near the cabin door, and lashed to a tree.  They do not even give him the relief of suffering him to sit down.”

The gentle heart of Margery was touched by this account of the manner in which the captive was treated, and she inquired into other particulars concerning his situation, with a more marked interest than she had previously manifested in his state.  The bee-hunter answered her questions as they were put; and the result was to place the girl in possession of a minute detail of the true manner in which Pigeonswing was treated.