carrying the powder
and the balls and the grapeshot are drawn up between them. But we can't
get at 'em, Sol. Not now, at least."

"No, but see, Henry, a lot of them warriors are beginnin' to dance, an'
thar are two medicine men among 'em. They've overheard the news o' what
we've done, an' they're gittin' excited. They're shore now the evil
sperrits are all 'roun' 'em."

"Looks like it, Sol, and those medicine men are not afraid of Alloway,
the renegades, the chiefs or anybody else. They're encouraging the
dancing."

Henry and the shiftless one saw the medicine men through the glow of the
lofty flames, and they looked strange and sinister to the last degree.
One was wrapped in a buffalo hide with the head and horns over his own
head, the other was made up as a bear. The glare through which they were
seen, magnified them to twice or thrice their size, and gave them a tint
of blood. They looked like two monsters walking back and forth before
the warriors.

"The seed we planted is shorely growin' up good an' strong," whispered
Shif'less Sol.

More and more warriors joined in the chant of the medicine men. The two
saw Alloway gesture furiously toward them, and then they saw Yellow
Panther and Red Eagle shake their heads. The two interpreted the
movements easily. Alloway wanted the chiefs to stop the chanting which
had in it the double note of awe and fear, and Yellow Panther and Red
Eagle disclaimed any power to do so.

Again the foresters laughed inwardly, as the monstrous and misshapen
figures of the two medicine men careered back and forth in the flaming
light. They knew that at this moment their power over the warriors was
supreme. The more Alloway raged the more he weakened his own influence.

"An' now they're dancin' with all their might," whispered the shiftless
one. "Look how they bound an' twist an' jump! Henry, you an' me have
seed some wild sights together, but this caps 'em."

It was in truth a most extraordinary scene, this wild dance of the
hundreds in the depths of the primeval forest. Around and around they
went, led by the two medicine men, the bear and the buffalo, and the
hideous, monotonous chant swelled through all the forest. It did not now
contain the ring of triumph and anticipation. Instead it was filled with
grief for the fallen, fear of the evil spirits that filled the air, and
of Manitou who had turned his face away from them.

Alloway and the white men who were left, drew to one side.