"The boy is to die," answered Apukwa. "Why seek more in his lodge at thine own risk?"
The other did not answer, but after a moment's pause he asked: "Who is it has built the lodge still farther to the morning?"
"One of the workers of iron," answered Apukwa, meaning the Dutch. "He is a great chief, they say, and a friend of the Five Nations."
"Then no friend of ours, my brother," answered the other speaker; "for though it be the children of the Stone who have shut the door of the lodge against us and driven us from the council fire, the Five Nations have confirmed their saying, and made the Honontkoh a people apart. Why should we not fire that lodge, too, and then steal on to the dwelling of Prevost?"
"Thy lip is thirsty for something," said Apukwa. "Is it the maiden thou wouldst have?"
The other smiled darkly, and, after remaining silent for a short space, answered: "They have taken from me my captive, and my hand can never reach the Blossom I sought to gather. The boy may die, but not by my tomahawk; and when he does die I am no better, for I lose that which I sought to gain by his death. Are Apukwa's eyes misty, that he cannot see? The spirit of the Snake would have been as well satisfied with the blood of any other paleface, but that would not have satisfied me."
"But making Prevost's house red will not gather for thee the Blossom," answered Apukwa.
The third and younger of the Indians laughed, saying: "The wind changes, Apukwa, and so does the love of our brother. The maiden in the lodge of Prevost is more beautiful than the Blossom. We have seen her thrice since this moon grew big, and my brother calls her the Fawn, because she has become the object of his chase."
"Thou knowest not my thought," said the brother of the Snake, gravely; "the maiden is fair, and she moves round her father's lodge like the sun. She shall be the light of mine, too; but the brother of the Snake forgets not those who disappoint him; and the boy Prevost would rather see the tomahawk falling than know that the Fawn is in my lodge."
The other two uttered that peculiar humming sound by which the Indians sometimes intimate that they are satisfied, and the conversation which went on between them related chiefly to the chances of making a successful attack upon the house of Mr. Prevost. Occasionally, indeed, they turned their eyes toward the boats upon Lake Champlain, and commented upon the struggle that was about to be renewed between France and England. That each party had made vast preparations was well known, and intelligence of the extent and nature of these preparations had spread far and wide amongst the tribes, with wonderful accuracy as to many of the details, but without any certain knowledge of where the storm was to break.