struggle he could expect no more quarter for himself
than for his companion--to any other one than the bold and adroit
warrior whose fame for cunning was as great as for bravery; or had the
relations betwixt himself and the savage been different, he would not
have remained in the cabin a moment longer. But he shrunk from the
betrayal of a want of confidence, and preferred even to risk life upon
the judgment of his wild friend. There lay the chief, softly
breathing, his limbs dissolved in sleep, and wearing in the subdued
light from the fire outside a placid expression, more like that of the
timid deer than of the cougar, whose nature his own resembled. As for
Arundel, so highly were his nerves wrought up, that had he ever so
much desired it, he would have been unable to sleep. Interminable
seemed the anxious hours, and, as the night waned, he became at last
almost incapable of mastering his apprehensions. But as more than once
he was on the point of waking the sachem, the thought arose that it
might look like cowardice, and he forbore.

At last he heard a sound, which seemed to come from just by the side
of the wigwam, like the whirring noise which the night hawk makes with
its wings. Instantly Sassacus sat up on his couch, and listened. The
sound was repeated, and he rose. He looked toward Arundel, and with a
smile, inquired how he had rested. The young man, unwilling to confess
the state of his mind, answered in an evasive manner, and the Pequot,
after regarding him a moment with a pleased expression, stepped to the
entrance and cast his eyes up to the stars. After considering them he
returned, and motioning to Arundel to arise, said, with some humor,
that he was sorry to disturb his brother, but that the skunks he had
spoke about were coming, and as he knew that his brother did not like
their smell, he would ask his brother to go a little way off. Arundel,
without altogether understanding the purpose of his companion, got up,
and after examining the priming of his piece, followed his steps.

The chief led him in a direction opposite to that from which they
came, to a distance of near a hundred rods, when their course was
arrested by the river Charles. Here he stopped, and said--

"My white brother will remain here, while Sassacus goes back to give
the welcome of a great chief to the Taranteens."

Arundel now comprehended the design of the other, but it was far from
being agreeable to him. The idea of letting the