Ignorant of the ground about the fortress, Walter could form but an insufficient judgment of the spot where it was situated; but the form and nature of the work he comprehended well enough. He mused in silence a minute or two after the chief had spoken, giving the Black Eagle good hope of his acquiring in time the Indian coolness; and then he said,--
"It would be better for us, while the army attacks the redoubt in front, to take it in reverse."
"What meanest thou, my son?" asked Black Eagle; for Walter, still busy with his own thoughts, had spoken in English.
The young man explained his meaning more clearly in the Iroquois tongue, showing that, as the enemy's position was, probably, from want of time, only closed on three sides, it would be easy for an Indian party, by making a circuit, to come upon the rear of the French, unless some considerable body of natives was thrown out upon their western flank. The Night Hawk nodded his head slowly, with a look of approbation, saying,--
"The Hurons are dogs, and creep close to the heels of their master. They are all within the stones or the mounds of earth, except those watching by the side of Horicon. The Night Hawk has skimmed over the ground towards the setting sun, and there is no print of a moccassin upon the trail."
"Thou hast the cunning of a warrior when thou art calm," said Black Eagle; "and it shall be as thou hast said. We will spring upon the back of the game. But let the Falling Cataract know quickly. Hast thou the means? He will not understand the belt of wampum, and knows not the tongue of the Oneida."
"I can find means," said Walter, taking from the pouch he carried a pencil and an old pocket-book. "But where will thy messenger find him, my father?"
"He is not far," answered the chief. "He sailed to-day from the mid-day towards the cold wind, with the war-party of the English. I watched them from the Black Mountain, and they are a mighty people. They floated on Horicon like a string of swans; and their number upon the blue waters was like a flight of passage-pigeons upon the sky, when they travel westward. They landed where the earth becomes a lizard by the Rattlesnake Dens. But how long they may tarry, who shall say? Send quickly, then."
Walter had been writing on his knee while the chief spoke; and the brief note which we have already seen delivered was speedily finished. A messenger was then chosen for his swiftness of foot, and despatched at once to the point where the English army first landed.
When he returned, all was still amongst the Oneidas; and the warriors, with but few exceptions, were sleeping in the long grass. The news he brought, however, soon roused the drowsiest. The English flotilla had sailed on, he said. He had found but a solitary canoe, with a few Mohawks, who told him that the battle would be on the following morning. All the warriors were on their feet in a moment; their light baggage and arms were snatched up in haste. One party was detached to the east, to watch the movements of the army; and before half an hour had gone by, the dusky bands were once more moving silently through the dark paths of the forest, only lighted from time to time by glimpses of the moon, and directed by the well-known stars which had so often guided their fathers through the boundless wilderness.