moment surveying the little party with
shrewd, appraising eyes. A friendly gleam shone in his beady orbs as
they lingered for a second on the captain's kindly, weather-beaten
face. He looked a trifle longer at Walter's eager, open countenance,
but his glance came back to rest on Charley's face, and to him his
words were addressed.

"He, whom his people call the Big Tiger, was made as weak as a tiny
papoose by the bullet of a jackal," he began in broken English. "The
Little tiger has told me all; how the jackals would have taken their
prey but for your coming in the canoe of cloth and bringing the
helpless ones here. The jackals' bullet has sped true, and the Big
Tiger will lead his followers no more in the hunt, but the son of a
chief will remain and his life will be at the young white chieftain's
command."

The stricken man burst into a fit of coughing, and Charley noted with
pity that flecks of scarlet stained the sufferer's lips. "Shot through
the lungs," he decided, but he allowed no trace of pity to show on his
face.

"A chief of the Seminoles must be wise with the wisdom of the owl in
council," he said, as soon as the fit of coughing had left its victim.
"Payment from father or son we desire not, only the counsel of wisdom
now. We are but braves in the hunt or fight, and great danger
threatens, now, but the ripe wisdom of a great chief may be able to
point out a path to safety."

Clearly and in few words, he described their present desperate position
and the demands and threats of the outlaws.

The Indian listened in impassive silence and for some time after
Charley finished, remained buried in profound meditation.

"The young white chief carries an old head on young shoulders," at last
he said approvingly. "He speaks truly when he says that the air is
thick with danger. When the blackness of night comes, then will come,
also, those who make war from behind the trees of the forest. In the
darkness, how is the young white and his friends to tell enemies from
friends? The jackals will wriggle through and over the wall of trees
like snakes through tall grass. After what they have seen, can my
white friends expect mercy at hands already stained red?"

Charley shook his head. "Thou speakest my thoughts, but are we to be
murdered in the dark by creatures such as those?"

"The mind of the young is ever quick and hasty in its flights,"
reproved the wounded chief, gravely. "What use for the medicine