the border, where she was
known as "Queen Esther."

Shif'less Sol shuddered again, and whispered to Henry:

"I didn't think such women ever lived, even among the Indians."

A dozen warriors followed Queen Esther, stepping in single file, and
their manner showed that they acknowledged her their leader in every
sense. She was truly an extraordinary woman. Not even the great
Thayendanegea himself wielded a stronger influence among the Iroquois.
In her youth she had been treated as a white woman, educated and dressed
as a white woman, and she had played a part in colonial society at
Albany, New York, and Philadelphia. But of her own accord she had turned
toward the savage half of herself, had become wholly a savage, had
married a savage chief, bad been the mother of savage children, and here
she was, at midnight, striding into an Iroquois camp in the wilderness,
her head aflame with visions of blood, death, and scalps.

The procession passed with the terrifying female figure still leading,
still singing her chant, and the curiosity of Henry and Shif'less Sol
was so intense that, taking all risks, they slipped along in the rear to
see her entry.

Queen Esther strode into the lighted area of the camp, ceased her chant,
and looked around, as if a queen had truly come and was waiting to be
welcomed by her subjects. Thayendanegea, who evidently expected her,
stepped forward and gave her the Indian salute. It may be that he
received her with mild enthusiasm. Timmendiquas, a Wyandot and a guest,
though an ally, would not dispute with him his place as real head of the
Six Nations, but this terrible woman was his match, and could inflame
the Iroquois to almost anything that she wished.

After the arrival of Queen Esther the lights in the Iroquois village
died down. It was evident to both Henry and the shiftless one that they
had been kept burning solely in the expectation of the coming of this
formidable woman and her escort. It was obvious that nothing more was to
be seen that night, and they withdrew swiftly through the forest toward
their islet. They stopped once in an oak opening, and Shif'less Sol
shivered slightly.

"Henry," he said, "I feel all through me that somethin' terrible is
comin'. That woman back thar has clean give me the shivers. I'm more
afraid of her than I am of Timmendiquas or Thayendanegea. Do you think
she is a witch?"

"There are no such things as witches, but she was uncanny. I'm afraid,
Sol, tha