"You came between the pistols and Tecumthè," he said. "Why did you do it?"
"Oh, I like fair play, yew know! I always did, as fur as that goes."
"Tecumthè thanks you, and perhaps some day it may be in his power to give you aid. In that day, ask any thing in honor of Tecumthè and he will grant it."
He turned about and gave a loud, startling signal-whoop. Scarcely had he done so when there started out of the thicket a diminutive figure, that of a dwarf, who was the messenger of Tecumseh, a being scarcely three feet high, who stood looking up into the face of his revered leader.
"If you would send any word to Harrison, the Weasel will carry it," said Tecumseh.
"Will it go safe?" said Floyd.
"The honor of a chief is sacred. It shall go to Harrison, if you trust me."
"It shall be done. Order the men to dismount and picket their horses. The chief will remain with us until his return with the answer."
"It is well," said Tecumseh.
Floyd stooped and tore a leaf from his note-book, upon which he wrote in cipher to Harrison, acquainting him with the melancholy fate of his family, and asking permission to take Yankee Seth and as many of the rangers as the latter thought necessary, to track Willimack wherever he had taken Madge. This cipher he intrusted to the Weasel, who took it with a self-satisfied air, thrust it into a small bag he carried at his belt, and set off at a pace which bade fair to take him quickly to his destination.