"The place of the singing waters is strong, brother," replied Apukwa, in a musing tone, "and the Frenchmen are great warriors; but the Yengees are many in number, and they have called for aid from the Five Nations. I told the Huron who sold me powder, where the eagles would come down, and I think he would not let the tidings slumber beneath his tongue. The great winged canoes are coming up Corlear very quick, and I think my words must have been whispered in the French chiefs ear to cause them to fly so quickly to Ticonderoga."
A faint, nearly suppressed smile came upon the lips of his two companions as they heard of this proceeding; but the younger of the three inquired: "And what will Apukwa do in the battle?"
"Scalp my enemies," replied Apukwa, looking darkly round.
"Which is thine enemy?" asked the brother of the Snake.
"Both," answered the medicine man, bitterly; "and every true Honontkoh should do as I do; follow them closely, and slay every man that flies, be his nation what it may. So long as he be white it is enough for us. He is an enemy. Let us blunt our scalping knives on the skulls of the palefaces. Then when the battle is over we can take our trophies to the conqueror and say, 'We have been on thy side!'"
"But will he not know?" suggested the younger man. "Will he listen so easily to the song?"
"How should he know?" asked Apukwa, coldly. "If we took him redmen's scalps he might doubt; but all he asks is white men's scalps, and we will take them. They are all alike, and they will have no faces under them."
This ghastly jest was highly to the taste of the two hearers, and bending down their heads together, the three continued to converse for several minutes in a whisper. At length one of them said: "Could we not take Prevost's house as we go? How many brothers did you say would muster?"
"Nine," answered Apukwa, "and our three selves make twelve." Then, after pausing for a moment or two in thought, he added: "It would be sweet as the strawberry, and as easy to gather; but there may be thorns near it. We may tear ourselves, my brothers."
"I fear not," answered the brother of the Snake. "So that I but set my foot within that lodge, with my rifle in my hand and my tomahawk in my belt, I care not what follows."