at the head
of his little party, nor hesitated one moment in his course, until he
got near the brink of the ditch, and stood face to face with the
governor, at a distance that gave both parties not only the facility of
tracing the expression of each other's features, but of conversing
without effort. There he made a sudden stand, and thrusting his spear
into the earth, assumed an attitude as devoid of apprehension as if he
had been in the heart of his own encampment.

"My father has understood my sign," said the haughty chief. "The
warriors of a dozen tribes are far behind the path the Ottawa has just
travelled; but when the red skin comes unarmed, the hand of the Saganaw
is tied behind his back."

"The strong hold of the Saganaw is his safeguard," replied the
governor, adopting the language of the Indian. "When the enemies of his
great father come in strength, he knows how to disperse them; but when
a warrior throws himself unarmed into his power, he respects his
confidence, and his arms hang rusting at his side."

"The talk of my father is big," replied the warrior, with a scornful
expression that seemed to doubt the fact of so much indifference as to
himself; "but when it is a great chief who directs the nations, and
that chief his sworn enemy, the temptation to the Saganaw may be
strong."

"The Saganaw is without fear," emphatically rejoined the governor; "he
is strong in his own honour; and he would rather die under the tomahawk
of the red skin, than procure a peace by an act of treachery."

The Indian paused; cold, calm looks of intelligence passed between him
and his followers, and a few indistinct and guttural sentences were
exchanged among themselves.

"But our father asks not why our mocassins have brushed the dew from
off the common," resumed the chief; "and yet it is long since the
Saganaw and the red skin have spoken to each other, except through the
war whoop. My father must wonder to see the great chief of the Ottawas
without the hatchet in his hand."

"The hatchet often wounds those who use it unskilfully," calmly
returned the governor. "The Saganaw is not blind. The Ottawas, and the
other tribes, find the war paint heavy on their skins. They see that my
young men are not to be conquered, and they have sent the great head of
all the nations to sue for peace."

In spite of the habitual reserve and self-possession of his race, the
haughty warrior could not repress a movement of impatience at the