g would leave our
village practically deserted except for aged and broken men and the women
and children.

Lost Sister said her husband was eager to take the path, and that it was
Cornstalk's plan to cross the Ohio instead of waiting to be attacked in
his own country. She was vague as to the chief's exact plans once he had
crossed the river, but by joining her brief statements together I was led
to believe Cornstalk had learned that the Virginia forces had been split
into two armies, and that the masterly red strategist planned to surprise
and annihilate one, and then attack the second. This information alone was
of sufficient importance for me to risk my life many times in order to
apprise my superiors of the trap being set for them.

By the time the sun was half-way down the afternoon sky all the chiefs
were moving down the river bound for Chillicothe. Young Ellinipsico and a
mixed band of warriors were left to arrange for guarding the girl. He
would depart for Chillicothe on the morrow. I went in search of the girl
and met Lost Sister standing by a big honey-tree. She asked me if I had
seen her husband, and looked worried when I shook my head.

"He said he would not go without seeing me, and yet he is not here in the
village. Your white woman--she walks far from her manito. It is bad for
her."

"She must leave here," I boldly said. "I must take her away." I had had no
intention of taking her into my confidence, but I realized it would be
impossible to make a start without her missing the girl. So I took the
desperate course and did what I had warned Patricia not to do.

She drew her knife and cut some straight marks on the honey-tree.

"You see those?" she asked.

I bowed my head. Without explaining the relevancy of her question, she
turned and walked rapidly toward the village. I stared at the marks and
they told me nothing. There was nothing pictorial about them. I followed
her among the wigwams, and was in time to see her leading Patricia into
her wigwam. I sauntered after them, obsessed by the notion that strange
forces were at work. The village seemed to be quiet and sleepy and yet the
air was surcharged with threats of things about to happen.

When the storm broke it was from a quarter entirely different from
anything I could have imagined. My first intimation that something unusual
was happening was when a Shawnee ran into the village and began talking to
Ellinipsico, who was lounging sleepily on the g