“She has been to the meetings of Congress,” innocently burst out Segwuna’s companion, “to watch for what the Manitou has told her would come to pass, because she has told me all about it.”
“How do you suppose the Indian maiden can foretell such great matters, Miss Mollie?” asked the venerable Dr. Franklin, who was really affected by the enthusiasm of his young friend.
“Why, Mr. Franklin, there is much that is good and wise in Segwuna. She seeks out the poor and sick in the city and carries them medicine and game. She says that the rich are too proud and grasping to remember the poor.
“She says such wise things and tells me that her Manitou has sent her as a guiding star to me, and that she will protect me from much danger,” continued Miss Mollie, with a tinge of real sentiment in her voice.
As the question had been answered most interestingly by Miss Mollie, Mr. Jefferson seemed to be seriously taken up with the philosophy of Segwuna, and turned to Dr. Greydon suggesting that they might go to the lodge of Segwuna and interview her upon the glowing topics of the day as the sage of Monticello remarked:
“For we know not from what source we may gather wisdom that shall illumine our path.”
When the meal had been finished, and the gentlemen had relished their pipes under the hemlocks, the whole party strolled on their way with Mollie as leader. They took the path past the mill on the Wingohocking and through the wild-wood trail in the soft light of the early evening to the lodge of Segwuna.
Nothing could be more peaceful or simple in nature than the lone wigwam in a rift of the woods, approached by a well-beaten path through the underbrush. The curling smoke of a lazy fire was streaming skyward in the still evening air, with an atmosphere broken by no sound except the barking of an Indian’s dog.
There sat the mother on a mat before the wigwam, and peering from the inside was Segwuna, standing shyly out of sight, but able to perceive the approach of the party with Dr. Greydon.
Kaubequa sat quietly at her wigwam entrance and when Dr. Greydon approached and greeted her in her own tongue, she replied and smiled as she asked Segwuna to step out and greet them.