ed him away to await my coming.

It was, I should judge, nearly five o'clock when we descended by the
open stairway to the ground floor. I held the window wide; she placed
her hands on the sill and leaped lightly to the grass. I followed.
Presently the lilac thicket parted and the tall Oneida appeared,
leading my horse. One keen, cunning glance he gave at the girl, then,
impassive, stood bolt upright beside my horse. He was superb, stripped
naked to clout and moccasin, head shaved, body oiled and most
elaborately painted; and on his broad breast glimmered the Wolf lined
in sapphire-blue. When the long roll of the dead thundered through the
council-house, his name was the fourth to be called--Shononses. And
never was chief of the Oneida nation more worthy to lift the antlers
that no grave must ever cover while the Long House endures.

"Has my brother learned news of the gathering in the north?" I asked,
studying the painted symbols on his face and body.

"The council sits at dawn," he replied quietly.

"At dawn!" I exclaimed. "Why, we have no time, then----"

"There is time, brother. There is always time to die."

"To--die!" I looked at him, startled. Did he, then, expect no mercy at
the council? He raised his eyes to me, smiling. There was nothing of
fear, nothing of boastfulness, even, in attitude or glance. His dignity
appalled me, for I knew what it meant. And, suddenly, the full
significance of his paint flashed upon me.

"You think there is no chance for us?" I repeated.

"None, brother."

"And yet you go?"

"And you, brother?"

"I am ordered; I am pledged to take such chances. But you need not go,
Little Otter. See, I free you now. Leave me, brother. I desire it."

"Shononses will stay," he said impassively. "Let the Long House learn
how the Oneidas die."

I shuddered and looked again at his paint. It was inevitable; no
orders, no commands, no argument could now move him. He understood that
he was about to die, and he had prepared himself. All I could hope for
was that he had mistaken the temper of the council; that the insolence
of a revolted nation daring to present a sachem at the Federal-Council
might be overlooked--might be condoned, even applauded by those who
cherished in their dark hearts, locked, the splendid humanity of the
ancient traditions. But there was no knowing, no prophesying what
action a house divided might take, what attitude a people maddened by
dissensions, wrought to frenzy