ister were instantly lowered, so
that they could not be seen from the outside, and they waited with
throbbing hearts for the issue. The occupants of the strange boat
descried the Mohawk almost as soon as he saw them, and as he expected
they headed straight toward him. The action of Lena-Wingo depended for
success on its very boldness, and he went at it with as much coolness
and self-possession as if failure was impossible.

Lena-Wingo, being a Mohawk, was also an Iroquois, as much as if he were
a member of the Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, or Seneca branch of the
powerful confederation known as the Six Nations. His intention was to
assume the character of a genuine enemy of the white race, and to answer
whatever questions were put to him in a way to mislead their foes.
Still, this trick had been played so often by him, that it required all
the skill of which he was master. It was necessary also that he should
not permit the strange canoe to come too near, else the deception would
be detected.

As the boat drew nigh, he kept up a slight movement of his paddle, which
caused the craft to glide in a slanting direction from the other.

"Where are the pale faces?" asked one of the four Iroquois who sat in
the new boat, while the couple were separated by two or three rods.

"How should Magawan know?" asked the Mohawk in return, in a surly voice,
as if angry that the question was put to him. "The warriors on the land
are squaws, and they do not know how to look for the traitor and the
pale faces. They have let them go again."

These words were spoken in the Indian tongue, the accent as clear as
that of those who addressed him. There was truth and sense in what
Lena-Wingo said, for it was this very suspicion that the Indians were
not doing as well as they should that led to the canoe being launched
from the other side.

"But they called to us that Lena-Wingo was on the river in a canoe,"
said one of the new-comers, sidling up toward the Mohawk, who was as
cautiously sidling away from him.

"They spoke the truth if they said the pale faces have gone off again. I
am looking for them."

"Why does Magawan look for them this way?"

"To find them," was the quick response. "Are you searching for them?"

"We have been sent out by Taunwaso, the great chief of the Oneidas, to
find Lena-Wingo, the traitor, and the whites."

"Why don't you find them, then? If they are not here they are somewhere
else. Go there and find them."

An