, they would have been frightened at his
appearance. His hand clutched his knife and he was on the point of
stealing toward the warrior who had uttered the irritating untruth, when
he seemed to gain the mastery of himself--aided no doubt by the fact
that at the same instant his quick ear caught the sound of a paddle, so
faint that no one else heard it. He was on the alert in a second, for a
scheme flashed through his mind with the quickness of lightning.

The faint noise showed that several new-comers had arrived on the scene,
and naturally a change in the current of conversation followed. The wish
of Lena-Wingo was to learn where these later arrivals came from--whether
from the other shore or whether they were prowling up and down the bank,
where they were now grouped. To the whites, who could hear every word
uttered, the talk of course was incomprehensible; but the loudness of
the tones, as well as the rapidity and general jangle, led them to
believe they were angry about something that had taken or had failed to
take place, and that had produced a quarrel between them. Such was the
fact, and Lena-Wingo listened to the high words with the hope that they
would lead to blows, in which there would be a good chance of the one
who had slurred his courage receiving his deserts.

Those in the canoe, it seemed, had been stealing up and down the shore,
on the alert to detect the departure of the fugitives, but, from some
cause or other, failed to do their duty, and they must have been quite
a way off at the time the Mohawk put out his awkward scow. The party on
shore were angry because of the failure, which was certainly a
discreditable one, and they were very ready to accuse their comrades of
being "squaws" on the war-path. The accused were equally ready to charge
the others with being "old women" for permitting the whites to land
under their noses, and to reach cover again. It would be hard to say
which of the companies was most to blame, and, as is the rule at such
times, each berated the other all the more on that account. The prospect
was promising for a deadly quarrel; but one or two in the party appeared
to be cool-headed, and they managed to quiet the rising storm, much to
the regret of the listening Mohawk.

It being clear to all the Iroquois that Lena-Wingo was too cunning for
them, although he had failed in carrying his charge across the
Susquehanna, it was plain that all his enemies could do was to fix upon
a pla