The warrior started; and for a moment the confidence that had hitherto distinguished him seemed to give place to an apprehension of meditated treachery.  He, however, speedily recovered himself, and observed emphatically, “It is the great head of all the nations whom my father invites to the council seat.  Were he to remain in the hands of the Saganaw, his young men would lose their strength.  They would bury the hatchet for ever in despair, and hide their faces in the laps of their women.”

“Does the Ottawa chief see the pale flag on the strong hold of his enemies.  While that continues to fly, he is safe as if he were under the cover of his own wigwam.  If the Saganaw could use guile like the fox” (and this was said with marked emphasis), “what should prevent him from cutting off the Ottawa and his chiefs, even where they now stand?”

A half smile of derision passed over the dark cheek of the Indian.  “If the arm of an Ottawa is strong,” he said, “his foot is not less swift.  The short guns of the chiefs of the Saganaw” (pointing to the pistols of the officers) “could not reach us; and before the voice of our father could be raised, or his eye turned, to call his warriors to his side, the Ottawa would be already far on his way to the forest.”

“The great chief of the Ottawas shall judge better of the Saganaw,” returned the governor.—­“He shall see that his young men are ever watchful at their posts:—­Up, men, and show yourselves.”

A second or two sufficed to bring the whole, of Captain Erskine’s company, who had been lying flat on their faces, to their feet on the rampart.  The Indians were evidently taken by surprise, though they evinced no fear.  The low and guttural “Ugh!” was the only expression they gave to their astonishment, not unmingled with admiration.

But, although the chiefs preserved their presence of mind, the sudden appearance of the soldiers had excited alarm among their warriors, who, grouped in and around the bomb-proof, were watching every movement of the conferring parties, with an interest proportioned to the risk they conceived their head men had incurred in venturing under the very walls of their enemies.  Fierce yells were uttered; and more than a hundred dusky warriors, brandishing their tomahawks in air, leaped along the skirt of the common, evidently only awaiting the signal of their great chief, to advance and cover his retreat.  At the command of the governor, however, the men had again suddenly disappeared from the surface of the rampart; so that when the Indians finally perceived their leader stood unharmed and unmolested, on the spot he had previously occupied, the excitement died away, and they once more assumed their attitude of profound attention.

“What thinks the great chief of the Ottawas now?” asked the governor;—­“did he imagine that the young white men lie sleeping like beavers in their dams, when the hunter sets his traps to catch them?—­did he imagine that they foresee not the designs of their enemies? and that they are not always on the watch to prevent them?”