"Where was she, then?" asked Walter, with some alarm.
"I know not," answered Black Eagle, and was silent.
"Perhaps he has taken her to Albany," rejoined the young man. "But you saw my father. How did he fare?"
"Well," answered Black Eagle; "quite well; and he gives thee to Otaitsa. The Blossom is thine."
"Then Edith is safe," said Walter, in a tone of relief; "and his mind must have been relieved about me, for he could not be well, or seem well, if either of his children were in danger."
"The red man feels as much as the white man," observed Black Eagle; "but he leaves tears and lamentations, sighs and sad looks, to women and children. Where is the Night Hawk? and where are the warriors who went with him?"
"They are on before," replied the youth. "We have not seen them; but their fires have been lighted here."
No further questions were asked by the chief; and, walking slowly away, he seated himself with those who had accompanied him, to partake of the meat they were making ready.
Few words were spoken amongst the various groups assembled there, and some twenty minutes had elapsed when one of the young men, seated at the fire with the Black Eagle, started up, and darted away towards the north like a frightened deer. No one took any notice, and several soon after composed themselves to sleep. The others sat round their fires, with their heads bent down almost to their knees; and the murmur of a few sentences, spoken here and there, was the only sound that broke the silence for nearly an hour.
At the end of that time, two young warriors on the north side of the savannah started up and listened, and shortly after, several of the Oneidas who rested in the neighbourhood of the same spot the night before, were seen coming through the long grass, and crossing the tiny brook which meandered through the midst.