night. He expected no trouble with
the Indians, but he was not willing to be caught napping by the unknown
foe whose work had now cost the life of their horse.

Tom was gloomy all the evening as they sat before the fire, but he told
the boys of the great chief of the Delaware's, Hopocon, or Capt. Pipe,
and reminded them that he was one of the Indians who were responsible for
the burning of Col. Crawford at the stake eight years earlier.

That and other stories of this noted chief made the boys curious to see
him, and anxious to put themselves on friendly terms with him. It was
decided that the next day they should visit the Delaware town and make
arrangements for securing land. Without a horse they could move their
goods only with great labor, and they were desirous of knowing just where
they were taking their property, therefore, before they undertook to move
it from their present camp.

"Guess I will stay an' watch here, whilst you youngsters go to see Capt.
Pipe," said Tom, as the subject was under discussion. "I might not be as
peaceful as a little lamb--plague take their greasy skins! Not if I
clapped my eyes on that Buffalo critter ag'in!"

"Look a-here, Tom," Ree answered, earnestly. "We boys are on a peaceable
mission and we don't want to get into trouble on your account. We know
that the horrible sight of that scalp, and your belief that you know from
where it came, has made you want revenge, but John and I have had no
special trouble with the Delawares and it would be very foolish, situated
as we are, for you or any of us to start a fight with them now."

"I see all that--I ain't so blind! But--" Tom did not finish the
sentence. Instead he began talking of other things and advised the boys
to take every precaution against being treacherously dealt with when they
should find Big Buffalo at his own home--the Delaware town.

It was a windy, cloudy morning that found Ree and John tramping through
the valleys and over the hills of a fine, thickly wooded country toward
the Indian village. Early in the afternoon they came to a sloping
hillside beyond which lay a swampy tract grown up to brush and rushes.
Close by was a beautiful little lake and at the opposite side the smoke
was rising from the town of the Delaware tribe of Indians.

As the boys approached the water, planning to walk around the lake, they
were discovered by three Indians in a canoe, which seemed almost to
spring out of the water, so quickly di