"If you are really Tranquil, I will allow you to enter; but who is the man that accompanies you, and for whom you answer?"
"Black-deer, the first Sachem of the Snake Pawnees."
"Oh! Oh!" the Captain muttered, "What does he want here?"
"Let us in, and you will know,"
"Well, be it so," the Captain shouted; "but I warn you that, at the slightest appearance of treachery, you and your comrade will be mercilessly killed."
"And you will be justified in doing it, if I break my word."
The Captain, after recommending his hunters to hold themselves in readiness for any event, ordered the drawbridge to be lowered.
Tranquil and Black-deer entered.
Both were unarmed, or, at any rate, seemed so. In the presence of such a proof of confidence, the Captain felt ashamed of his suspicions; and after the bridge had been raised again, he dismissed his escort, and only kept Bothrel with him.
"Follow me," he said to the strangers.