all.
I have spoken."

A dignified old Seneca chief arose to reply, and said; "We have heard
the words of my white brother, and we believe them to be true, for his
tongue is not crooked. He alone of all white men has never lied to us.
He says the prisoner is gone, and it must be so. But it is not well.
Our hearts are heavy at the escape of so brave a captive. What, then,
will my brother give us in his place, that the heaviness of our hearts
may be lifted?"

"I will give you," replied Major Hester, "two guns, and ten red
blankets, twenty pounds of powder and fifty pounds of lead, one piece
of blue cloth, one piece of red cloth, and five pounds of tobacco. Is
it enough?"

"It is enough," answered the chief, while the eyes of his companions
glistened at the prospect of this munificent present. "But," he
continued, "there was a woman. What will my brother give for her?"

"Nothing," answered the white brother, promptly, "for she was not your
prisoner."

"Ugh!" grunted the Indians.

"There is also Mahng," continued the savage diplomat, whose rule of
action was that of his white colleagues in the same service; namely, to
give as little and get as much as possible. "What will my brother give
him to help the healing of his wounds?"

"I will give Mahng a handsome present whenever he shall come to receive
it, that there may be no bad blood between us," was the answer; and
with these concessions the Indians expressed themselves as well content.

The proprietor of Tawtry House kept his word in regard to the presents;
but Mahng never came to claim those set apart for him. Instead of so
doing, he sent word to Major Hester that no gift, save that of his
life's blood, would ever atone for the insult of that kick, nor wipe
out the enmity between them.

"So be it, then, if he will have it so," replied the soldier, with a
light laugh, when this was reported to him; but his wife turned pale
and trembled as she recalled the undying hate expressed by Mahng's
scowling face. Nor was the Ojibwa's threat an entirely idle one, as
the settlers discovered to their sorrow, when several of their cattle
were killed, an outbuilding was burned, and finally the major himself
had a narrow escape with his life, from a shot fired by an unseen foe.
Finally, these things became so annoying that Sir William Johnson
notified the Senecas to drive Mahng from their country, or hand him
over to the whites for punishment, unless they wished to fo