uddenly appeared.

"It's a white cloth of some kind," said Major Braithwaite. "That means a
flag of truce. Now what in the name of Neptune can they want?"

"We'll soon see," said Henry, as he and the Major advanced to the
palisade and stepped upon the ledge. Many others did the same, and not a
few among them were women and children. The Major did not send them
away, as a bullet from the forest could not reach them there.

A man came from among the trees, waving a white rag on a stick, but
stopped out of rifle shot. The man was tanned almost as brown as an
Indian, and he was dressed in Indian style, but his features were
undoubtedly Caucasian.

"Do you know who he is?" asked the Major.

"Yes," replied Henry, "it is the worst scoundrel in all the west, the
leader of the men who fight against their own people, the king of the
renegades, Simon Girty."

"Girty coming to us under a white flag!" exclaimed the Major. "What can
he want?"

"We'll soon see," said Henry. "Look, there are the chiefs."

A dozen stately figures issued from the green gloom and stood beside
Girty, silent and impressive, their hands folded upon the muzzles of
their rifles, which rested upon the ground, their figures upright,
figure and face alike motionless, an eagle feather waving defiantly in
every scalp lock. There was something grand and formidable in their
appearance, and all those who looked from the palisade felt it.

"Do you know any of them?" asked Major Braithwaite.

"Yes," replied Henry. "I see Yellow Panther, head chief of the Miamis;
Red Eagle, head chief of the Shawnees, and Captain Pipe and Captain
White Eyes, Delaware chiefs, but I do not see Timmendiquas, the White
Lightning of the Wyandots, the bravest and greatest of them all. There
are two more renegades behind the chiefs. They are Blackstaffe and
Braxton Wyatt."

"Girty is coming forward. He is going to speak," said the Major.

The renegade advanced another dozen feet, still holding the white flag
above him, and hailed them in a loud voice.

"Ho, you within the fort!" he cried. "I wish to speak with your leader,
if you have one."

Major Braithwaite stepped upon the highest point of the ledge. He showed
above the palisade from the waist up, and the morning sunshine touched
his cocked hat and buff and blue with an added glory. It was a strange
figure in the forest, but the face under the cocked hat was brave and
true.

"I am the commander here," said Major Braithwait