“The Ottawa has been cunning, like the fox,” calmly returned the governor.  “He went with deceit upon his lips, and said to the great chiefs of the strong holds of the Saganaw,—­’You have no more forts upon the lakes; they have all fallen before the red skins:  they gave themselves into our hands; and we spared their lives, and sent them down to the great towns near the salt lake.’  But this was false:  the chiefs of the Saganaw, believing what was said to them, gave up their strong holds; but their lives were not spared, and the grass of the Canadas is yet moist with their blood.  Does the Ottawa hear?”

Amazement and stupefaction sat for a moment on the features of the Indians.  The fact was as had been stated; and yet, so completely had the several forts been cut off from all communication, it was deemed almost impossible one could have received tidings of the fate of the other, unless conveyed through the Indians themselves.

“The spies of the Saganaw have been very quick to escape the vigilance of the red skins,” at length replied the Ottawa; “yet they have returned with a lie upon their lips.  I swear by the Great Spirit, that nine of the strong holds of the Saganaw have been destroyed.  How could the Ottawa go with deceit upon his lips, when his words were truth?”

“When the red skins said so to the warriors of the last forts they took, they said true; but when they went to the first, and said that all the rest had fallen, they used deceit.  A great nation should overcome their enemies like warriors, and not seek to beguile them with their tongues under the edge of the scalping knife!”

“Why did the Saganaw come into the country of the red skins?” haughtily demanded the chief.  “Why did they take our hunting grounds from us?  Why have they strong places encircling the country of the Indians, like a belt of wampum round the waist of a warrior?”

“This is not true,” rejoined the governor.  “It was not the Saganaw, but the warriors of the pale flag, who first came and took away the hunting grounds, and built the strong places.  The great father of the Saganaw had beaten the great father of the pale flag quite out of the Canadas, and he sent his young men to take their place and to make peace with the red skins, and to trade with them, and to call them brothers.”

“The Saganaw was false,” retorted the Indian.  “When a chief of the Saganaw came for the first time with his warriors into the country of the Ottawas, the chief of the Ottawas stood in his path, and asked him why, and from whom, he came?  That chief was a bold warrior, and his heart was open, and the Ottawa liked him; and when he said he came to be friendly with the red skins, the Ottawa believed him, and he shook him by the hand, and said to his young men, ’Touch not the life of a Saganaw; for their chief is the friend of the Ottawa chief, and his young men shall be the friends of the red warriors.’  Look,” he proceeded, marking