"She walk? Oh, dear no, Missy!" replied the negro. "She walk little bit o' way from what dey call Wood Creek, or from de Mohawk. She walk no farder; all de rest she go in canoe, sometimes on Mohawk, sometimes on lake, sometimes on creek. She came here, once, in t'ree day, I hear old Gray Buzzard, de pipe-bearer, say, that time when de sachem come wid his warriors."
"And can I do the same?" asked Edith, eagerly.
"Sure you can, if you get canoe," answered Chaudo; "but oh, Missy, t'ink ob de Ingins! They kidnap Massa Walter; dey kill you, too!"
"There is no fear, Chaudo," replied Edith. "Even my father owns that I could safely go from one lodge to another, through the whole land of the Five Nations, because Black Eagle has put his blanket round me and made me his daughter."
"Massa know best," said Chaudo; "but if so, why dey kidnap Massa Walter?"
"Black Eagle refused to make him his son, or my father his brother," said Edith, with the tears rising in her eyes. "But the truth is, Chaudo, that I go to try if I can save poor Walter's life. I go to tell the Blossom that they hold my Walter--her Walter--a prisoner, and see whether she cannot find means to rescue him."
"I see, I see, Missy!" said the man, gravely. And then, after pausing for a moment, he asked, abruptly: "I go with you?"
"Someone I must have, to show me the way," replied Edith. "Are you afraid, Chaudo?"
"Afraid!" cried the man, bursting into a fit of joyous laughter. "Oh, no, not afraid! Ingins no hurt nigger; kick him, cuff him; no scalp him, 'cause nigger got no scalp-lock. Ha! ha! ha! I go help save Massa Walter. He never hab no good thing but he give Chaudo some. Oh, I'll manage all for you. We find plenty canoe, Mohawk canoe, Oneida canoe, if we say you Black Eagle's daughter, going to see you sister Otaitsa. When you go, Missy?"
"Very soon, Chaudo," replied Edith, and proceeded to explain her plan to him still farther. She said that she wished to set out that very day, and as soon as possible, in order, first, to communicate the tidings of Walter's capture to Otaitsa without delay; and secondly, to save her father as many hours of anxiety as possible. She did not absolutely tell the man that she had not informed her father of her intention, but he divined it well. Nevertheless, when he heard somewhat more at large the conduct of Black Eagle toward her on the night of poor Walter's capture, he was quite satisfied of her safety as far as the Indians were concerned. He urged her, however, to go in the first place to Johnson Castle, where she could procure a canoe, or even a batteau, he felt certain; and it was long before he comprehended her objection to that course. At length, however, his usual "I see, I see!" showed that he had caught a light at last, and then he was soon ready with his resources.