nity. He becomes a fighter, keen as the redskin
who steals through the coverts."

* * *

The serene days of the Village of Peace had passed into history.
Soon that depraved vagabond, the French trader, with cheap trinkets
and vile whisky, made his appearance. This was all that was needed
to inflame the visitors. Where they had been only bold and impudent,
they became insulting and abusive. They execrated the Christian
indians for their neutrality; scorned them for worshiping this
unknown God, and denounced a religion which made women of strong
men.

The slaughtering of cattle commenced; the despoiling of maize
fields, and robbing of corn-cribs began with the drunkenness.

All this time it was seen that Girty and Elliott consulted often
with Pipe and Half King. The latter was the only Huron chief opposed
to neutrality toward the Village of Peace, and he was, if possible,
more fierce in his hatred than Pipe. The future of the Christian
settlement rested with these two chiefs. Girty and Elliott,
evidently, were the designing schemers, and they worked diligently
on the passions of these simple-minded, but fierce, warlike chiefs.

Greatly to the relief of the distracted missionaries, Heckewelder
returned to the village. Jaded and haggard, he presented a
travel-worn appearance. He made the astonishing assertions that he
had been thrice waylaid and assaulted on his way to Goshocking; then
detained by a roving band of Chippewas, and soon after his arrival
at their camping ground a renegade had run off with a white woman
captive, while the Indians west of the village were in an uproar.
Zeisberger, however, was safe in the Moravian town of Salem, some
miles west of Goshocking. Heckewelder had expected to find the same
condition of affairs as existed in the Village of Peace; but he was
bewildered by the great array of hostile Indians. Chiefs who had
once extended friendly hands to him, now drew back coldly, as they
said:

"Washington is dead. The American armies are cut to pieces. The few
thousands who had escaped the British are collecting at Fort Pitt to
steal the Indian's land."

Heckewelder vigorously denied all these assertions, knowing they had
been invented by Girty and Elliott. He exhausted all his skill and
patience in the vain endeavor to show Pipe where he was wrong. Half
King had been so well coached by the renegades that he refused to
listen. The other chiefs maintained a cold res