A murmur ran through the assemblage; the old man bowed his head in homage of the dauntless dead, and went on:
“Listen! I waited suns and moons around Pejipscot; my eyes never lost sight of the spot at which the warriors disappeared. At length one morning, just as the sun tipped the tops of the ancient pines with fire, I saw a warrior issue from the spray. He cast an eager glance to the sky, and earth, and water, and before I could save him, he too plunged himself adown the cataract.
“Listen! A Saco chief is tireless. I waited and watched till, one by one, the Androscoggins, thin and powerless, showed themselves amid the spray, and were lost in the flood below.”
The Sagamore of Saco arose to his feet, as the old chief ceased to speak.
“There is a chamber under the falls, my father, is there not?”
“Thou hast well divined, my son! And there the squawmen who fear the war-club and the arrow, hide their wolfish bones.”
“The Androscoggins have joined the Terrentines and Kennebecs, and will descend upon the Sacos with all their power. Let us not wait their coming. Ere the moon is full, we will spring upon their path like the panther upon his prey.”
The younger chiefs rose to their feet, and responded by twanging their bow-strings in token of defiance.
“We will avenge the blood of our warriors; we will reassert our power over the Androscoggins.”
Such were the words of the young braves.