In language obscured by figures, but otherwise clear and definite, the Night Hawk described the masked redoubt of the French and its position.
Ignorant of the ground around 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 for 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 were thrown out upon their western flank. But the Night Hawk nodded his head slowly, with a look of approbation, saying: "The Hurons are dogs, and creep close to the bowl of their masters. 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 toward the setting sun, and there was no print of a moccasin upon the trail."
"Thou hast the cunning of a warrior, when thou art calm," said Black Eagle, addressing Walter, "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 pocketbook; "but where will thy messenger find him, my father?"
"He is not far," answered the chief. "He sailed to-day from the midday toward the cold wind, with the war party of the English. I watched them from the black mountains, 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 dispatched 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 gone 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. Every warrior was on his 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; another messenger was chosen and sent to bear the letter, and ere 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.
CHAPTER XXXV
Calm and bright, and beautiful, the Sabbath morning broke over the woody world around Edith Prevost. Through the tall pine trees left standing within the earthworks the rosy light streamed sweetly; and though no birds deserving the name of songsters inhabit the forests of America, yet many a sweet, short note saluted the rising day.