tily concealed
themselves in the bushes.

"Spare none--take no captives!" ordered the chief's son.

Nearer and nearer approached the strange canoe. The glistening blades
of its paddles flashed as it were the signal of good news, or a
welcome challenge. All impatiently waited until it should come within
arrow-shot.

"Surely it is an Ojibway canoe," one murmured. "Yet look! the stroke is
ungainly!" Now, among all the tribes only the Ojibway's art is perfect
in paddling a birch canoe. This was a powerful stroke, but harsh and
unsteady.

"See! there are no feathers on this man's head!" exclaimed the son
of the chief. "Hold, warriors, he wears a woman's dress, and I see
no weapon. No courage is needed to take his life, therefore let it be
spared! I command that only coups (or blows) be counted on him, and he
shall tell us whence he comes, and on what errand."

The signal was given; the warriors sprang to their feet, and like wolves
they sped from the forest, out upon the white, sandy beach and straight
into the sparkling waters of the lake, giving the shrill war-cry, the
warning of death!

The solitary oarsman made no outcry--he offered no defense! Kneeling
calmly in the prow of the little vessel, he merely ceased paddling and
seemed to await with patience the deadly blow of the tomahawk.

The son of Tatankaota was foremost in the charge, but suddenly an
impulse seized him to stop his warriors, lest one in the heat of
excitement should do a mischief to the stranger. The canoe with its
occupant was now very near, and it could be seen that the expression of
his face was very gentle and even benignant. None could doubt his utter
harmlessness; and the chief's son afterward declared that at this moment
he felt a premonition of some event, but whether good or evil he could
not tell.

No blows were struck--no coups counted. The young man bade his warriors
take up the canoe and carry it to the shore; and although they murmured
somewhat among themselves, they did as he commanded them. They seized
the light bark and bore it dripping to a hill covered with tall pines,
and overlooking the waters of the Great Lake.

Then the warriors lifted their war-clubs over their heads and sang,
standing around the canoe in which the black-robed stranger was still
kneeling. Looking at him closely, they perceived that he was of a
peculiar complexion, pale and inclined to red. He wore a necklace of
beads, from which hung a cross bearing the