tota, and he spoke
briefly. The interpreter woodenly repeated:--

"I can well believe you, for after an English treaty we have fraud and
then force and at last bloodshed."

Stuart, the sombre red shadow of the terra-cotta walls hardly dulling
the glare of his red uniform, sat looking out, quite placid and
self-poised, through the open portal at the scattered huts of the town,
at the occasional passing of an Indian's figure, at Chilhowee Mountain
in the middle distance, densely green with the dark lush growths of
summer, and beyond at the domes of the Great Smoky range, a soft velvet
blue against the hard turquoise blue of the sky. The object, however, on
which his eyes fixed most intently was the bright spot of color of the
orderly's red coat, like a buoy, one might say, against the glimmering
river, in the foreground, as he rested on his oars in the glow of the
sunset, while the little boat swung idly in the shallows.

Not again did either of the chiefs speak. Demere flushed with anger as
sentence after sentence rang out in English, now from Stuart's lips, now
from his own,--cogent, persuasive, flattering, fruitless; repeated by
the interpreter in Cherokee, and followed by a blank pause. Finally
Demere rose, and with a curt phrase of formal farewell, to which neither
of the chiefs responded, bowed angrily, and walked out, pausing near the
entrance to wait for Stuart, who with blandest ceremony was taking his
leave,--saying how much he hoped there would be no interruption to the
kind friendship with which the great men had personally favored them,
and which they so highly valued; and how earnestly he desired to express
their thanks for the interview, although it grieved him to perceive that
the chiefs felt they could say so little on the subject that had brought
him hither. He could not have bowed with more respectful formality if he
were quitting the presence of General Amherst himself, the cocked hat in
his right hand sweeping low as he made his obeisance; but he could
detect in both faces no change of expression, except that the eye of
Oconostota twinkled with derision or anger or pleasure--who can say? He
left them sitting motionless there in the deep red dusk reflected down
from the terra-cotta walls, and the interpreter, looking as wooden as
his voice sounded, standing bolt upright behind them.

Stuart did not comment on the character of the audience vouchsafed as,
shoulder to shoulder, he and Demere took their