aughter," said the senior chief to the young Delaware, "ask this grey
beard why he came into our camp?"

The question was put by Hist, in her own imperfect English, but in a
way that was easy to be understood. Hutter was too stern and obdurate
by nature to shrink from the consequences of any of his acts, and he
was also too familiar with the opinions of the savages not to understand
that nothing was to be gained by equivocation or an unmanly dread of
their anger. Without hesitating, therefore, he avowed the purpose
with which he had landed, merely justifying it by the fact that the
government of the province had bid high for scalps. This frank avowal
was received by the Iroquois with evident satisfaction, not so much,
however, on account of the advantage it gave them in a moral point of
view, as by its proving that they had captured a man worthy of occupying
their thoughts and of becoming a subject of their revenge. Hurry,
when interrogated, confessed the truth, though he would have been
more disposed to concealment than his sterner companion, did the
circumstances very well admit of its adoption. But he had tact enough to
discover that equivocation would be useless, at that moment, and he made
a merit of necessity by imitating a frankness, which, in the case
of Hutter, was the offspring of habits of indifference acting on
a disposition that was always ruthless, and reckless of personal
consequences.

As soon as the chiefs had received the answers to their questions, they
walked away in silence, like men who deemed the matter disposed of,
all Hetty's dogmas being thrown away on beings trained in violence from
infancy to manhood. Hetty and Hist were now left alone with Hutter and
Hurry, no visible restraint being placed on the movements of either;
though all four, in fact, were vigilantly and unceasingly watched. As
respects the men, care was had to prevent them from getting possession
of any of the rifles that lay scattered about, their own included; and
there all open manifestations of watchfulness ceased. But they, who
were so experienced in Indian practices, knew too well how great was the
distance between appearances and reality, to become the dupes of this
seeming carelessness. Although both thought incessantly of the means of
escape, and this without concert, each was aware of the uselessness
of attempting any project of the sort that was not deeply laid, and
promptly executed. They had been long enough in the en