I laughed.
"Why, that is true," I admitted, "but you need have no fear of our returning here. We have suffered too much. Our one desire is to return safely to our own country—and there seems little chance of that, for our powder and lead are gone."
He tipped my powder-horn to prove my words.
"Huh!" he grunted. "We talk too much. Come with me to Homolobi."
"And the Awataba?" I questioned. "Will they make trouble for you if we go?"
"I think not," he answered calmly. "They are children. They cannot harm us, and if they ravage our gardens they know that I will make a curse against them, and they will die of hunger when the Winter comes."
"But if we go with you will you guarantee us against treachery?" I asked.
His eyes swept from me to Kachina, intent on our conversation, and on to Corlaer, phlegmatically surveying the prospect of the valley, and Tawannears, whose gaze was still riveted on the girl's face.
"All things are as Massi wills," he returned.
"That may be," I rasped, with all the ferocity I could muster. "But if we are to die, we will die here in the open, taking with us as many of you as we can slay."