twice, and was gone as shadows go.

I saw the roadside bushes stir, part, and, as I rose, an Indian leaped
lightly into the road and strode straight toward me. He was curiously
painted with green and orange, and he was stark naked, except that he
wore ankle-moccasins, clout, and a fringed pouch, like a quiver,
covered with scarlet beads in zigzag pattern.

He did not seem to notice that I was armed, for he carried his own
rifle most carelessly in the hollow of his left arm, and when he had
halted before me he coolly laid the weapon across his moccasins.

The dignified silence that always precedes a formal meeting of strange
Iroquois was broken at length by a low, guttural exclamation as his
narrow-slitted eyes fell upon the tattoo on my bared breast: "Salute,
Roy-a-neh!"

"Welcome, O Keeper of the Gate," I said calmly.

"Does my younger brother know to which gate-warden he speaks?" asked
the savage warily.

"When a Wolf barks, the Eastern Gate-Keepers of the Long House listen,"
I replied. "It was so in the beginning. What has my elder brother of
the Canienga to say to me?"

His cunning glance changed instantly to an absolutely expressionless
mask. My white skin no longer made any difference to him. We were now
two Iroquois.

"It is the truth," he said. "This is the message sent to my younger
brother, Onehda, chief ensign of the Wolf Clan of the Oneida nation. I
am a belt-bearer. Witness the truth of what I say to you--by this belt.
Now read the will of the Iroquois."

He drew from his beaded pouch a black and white belt of seven rows. I
took it, and, holding it in both hands, gazed attentively into his
face.

"The Three Wolves listen," I said briefly.

"Then listen, noble of the noble clan. The council-fire is covered at
Onondaga; but it shall burn again at Thendara. This was so from the
first, as all know. The council therefore summons their brother,
Onehda, as ensign of his clan. The will of the council is the will of
the confederacy. Hiro! I have spoken."

"Does a single coal from Onondaga still burn under the great tree, my
elder brother?" I asked cautiously.

"The great tree is at Onondaga," he answered sullenly; "the fire is
covered."

Which was as much as to say that there was no sanctuary guaranteed an
Oneida, even at a federal council.

"Tell them," I said deliberately, "that a belt requires a belt; and,
when the Wolves talk to the Oneidas, they at Thendara shall be
answered. I have spoken.