mind the fact: a black horse had just
entered the village and a white one had gone out of it. The narrow
superstition in which he had been reared taught him that the one
brought misfortune and the other carried away happiness; and, in a
redoubled terror at his own act and its consequences, Osceolo turned
and fled.

CHAPTER VI.

THE THREE GIFTS.

"The Black Partridge has served his white friends faithfully. He
should now remember his own people, and rest his heart among them,"
said the White Pelican as he rode homeward beside his chief, not many
hours after the massacre of the sandhills.

The elder warrior lifted his bowed head, and regarded his nephew in
sadness. His eyes had that far-away, dreamy look which was unusual
among his race and had given him, at times, a strange power over his
fellows. Because, unfortunately, the dreams were, after all, very
practical, and the silent visions were of things that might have been
averted.

"The White Pelican, also, did well. He protected those whom he wished
to kill. He did it for my sake. It shall not be forgotten, though the
effort was useless. The end has begun."

The younger brave touched his fine horse impatiently, and the animal
sprang forward a few paces. As he did so, the rider caught a gleam of
something white skimming along the horizon line, and wondered what it
might be. But he had set out to attend his chief and, curbing his
mount by a strong pull, whirled about and rode back to the side of
Black Partridge.

"What is the end that has begun, Man-Who-Cannot-Lie?"

"The downfall of our nations. They have been as the trees of the
forest and the grasses of the prairie. The trees shall be felled and
the grasses shall be cut. The white man's hand shall accomplish both."

"For once, the Truth-Teller is mistaken. We will wrest our lands back
from the grasp of the pale-faces. We will learn their arts and conquer
them with their own weapons. We will destroy their villages--few they
are and widely scattered. Pouf! This morning's work is but a show of
what is yet to come. As we did then, so we will do in the future. I,
too, would go with my tribe to that other fort far beyond the Great
Lake. I would help again to wipe away these usurpers from our homes,
as I wipe--this, from my horse's flank. Only my promise to remain with
my chief and my kinsman prevents."

The youth had stooped and brushed a bit of grass bloom from the
animal's shining skin; and as he rai