iscern the fact that
after a moment's hesitation Quoo-ran-be-qua was clacking out a coherent
statement to the effect that the concealment of the powder was Captain
Demere's work, and wrought unknown to Stuart during his absence on his
mission to Chote, where, as the great chiefs well knew, he was detained
several hours. Stuart stared in astonishment at the interpreter, who,
blandly secure in the conviction that the prisoner did not comprehend
the Cherokee language, maintained his usual stolid aspect. Whether
Stuart's courage so enforced admiration, or whatever quality had secured
for him the regard of the higher grade of Indians, the interpreter had
sought, by an unrecognized, unrewarded effort, to save the officer's
life by a sudden stroke of presence of mind,--a subterfuge which he
supposed, in his simplicity, undiscoverable.

There were milder countenances now in the circle, and Stuart's attention
was presently concentrated upon an eager controversy between
Atta-Kulla-Kulla and Willinawaugh that was curiously enough, at this
moment of gravest council, sitting in judgment on the disposal of a
human life, a matter of chaffer, of bargain and sale. Willinawaugh had
already refused a new rifle and a horse--and then two horses besides,
and, still untempted, shook his head. And suddenly the interest in the
concealment of the powder collapsed, and they were all looking at
Willinawaugh, who gazed much perplexed down at the ground, all his
wrinkles congregated around his eyes, eager to acquire yet loath to
trade, while Atta-Kulla-Kulla, keen, astute, subtle, plied him with
offers, and tempting modifications of offers, for the Cherokees of that
date were discriminating jockeys and had some fine horses.

The wind came in at the loop-holes and stirred the blood-clotted hair on
the prisoner's brow, and the suspension of the mental effort that the
examination cost him was for a moment a relief; the shadowy dusk of the
ill-lighted room was grateful to his eyes, the heavy, regular throbbing
of his head grew less violent. He could even note the incongruity of the
situation when he saw that Willinawaugh resisted upon the point that the
matter was with him a question of character! The chief said he had lost
his standing in public estimation because he had allowed the Englishman,
MacLeod, and his brother, to deceive him on the pretense of being
French,--for although he (Willinawaugh) spoke French himself, and that
better than some peopl