l that he has done for us, and shall remember it, when the hour to
reward him arrives. Yes! Renard has proved that he is not only a great
chief in council, but one who knows how to deceive his enemies!"

"What has Renard done?" coldly demanded the Indian.

"What! has he not seen that the woods were filled with outlying parties
of the enemies, and that the Serpent could not steal through them
without being seen? Then, did he not lose his path to blind the eyes of
the Hurons? Did he not pretend to go back to his tribe, who had treated
him ill, and driven him from their wigwams like a dog? And, when we saw
what he wished to do, did we not aid him, by making a false face, that
the Hurons might think the white man believed that his friend was his
enemy? Is not all this true? And when Le Subtil had shut the eyes and
stopped the ears of his nation by his wisdom, did they not forget that
they had once done him wrong, and forced him to flee to the Mohawks? And
did they not leave him on the south side of the river, with their
prisoners, while they have gone foolishly on the north? Does not Renard
mean to turn like a fox on his footsteps, and to carry to the rich and
gray-headed Scotchman his daughters? Yes, Magua, I see it all, and I
have already been thinking how so much wisdom and honesty should be
repaid. First, the chief of William Henry will give as a great chief
should for such a service. The medal[16] of Magua will no longer be of
tin, but of beaten gold; his horn will run over with powder; dollars
will be as plenty in his pouch as pebbles on the shore of Horican; and
the deer will lick his hand, for they will know it to be vain to fly
from the rifle he will carry! As for myself, I know not how to exceed
the gratitude of the Scotchman, but I--yes, I will--"

"What will the young chief who comes from towards the sun, give?"
demanded the Huron, observing that Heyward hesitated in his desire to
end the enumeration of benefits with that which might form the climax of
an Indian's wishes.

"He will make the fire-water from the Islands in the salt lake flow
before the wigwam of Magua, until the heart of the Indian shall be
lighter than the feathers of the humming-bird, and his breath sweeter
than the wild honeysuckle."

Le Renard had listened gravely as Heyward slowly proceeded in his subtle
speech. When the young man mentioned the artifice he supposed the Indian
to have practised on his own nation, the countenance of the lis