"It will be a long while, I reckon, before that happens. But I say," asked he, just thinking of the other captive who had been brought in that morning, "what other prisoner have they got here?"
"They brought in a pale-face girl. King George's man got her from cottage. She stays in hut with me."
"Ruth Barton, by all the devils!" exclaimed Ichabod. "Who do you say captured her?"
"King George's man: Guthrie, they call him."
Here was a new cause of wonderment. Guthrie was believed by Ichabod to have been killed by the Tuscarora.
"But I see into it, the white-livered villain. He'll get his pay for this. I say, Singing-Bird, I shall refuse to go on that rascally business for these Senecas. I suppose they'll be terribly mad about it, but I can't help it. Now, you see, you keep up this sham affair between you and Panther, and you can find some means to give me a hint of what's going on: and, I say, if you can, just bring me a knife. It gives a man a world of confidence, sometimes, to have a friend of that sort. Eagle's-Wing and the Captin won't be idle, and we shall hear something from 'em before long; and, till then——"
He was interrupted by a gesture from Singing Bird, who immediately assumed the appearance she had worn while Panther had been in hearing of the conversation. At almost the same moment, Panther and Snake-tongue entered the hut; and, at a gesture from the former, she silently departed.
Ichabod had endeavored to assume the appearance of indignation which his countenance had worn during the early part of his conversation with Singing-Bird, and with some degree of success.
"My brother has heard the Singing-Bird of the Tuscaroras," said Panther; "he has learnt that the Senecas have not got forked tongues."
"I must confess," answered Ichabod, "that I'm ashamed of that girl. I wouldn't have believed it from anybody else, although I'm beginning to have great respect for the word of a Seneca. I wouldn't have believed it, if she hadn't told me so."