"What, then, does my brother mean?" said Diogo; "I do not understand him. Does he not say that the war canoes will ascend the river?"
"I have, indeed, said so," answered the chief.
"For what reason will my brother take that direction?"
"Why, to aid, as has been agreed between us, Tarou Niom, to conquer the Pai dogs."
"Listen to the words of the chief; the Pai are surrounded by my warriors; flight is impossible for them; already discouraged and half dying with hunger, in two or three suns at the latest they will fall into my hands, if my brother remember his promise."
"Well?" interrupted the chief.
"Other enemies more serious," imperturbably continued Diogo, "threaten us at this moment."
"Is that true, then, which, this very morning, one of my scouts told me?" cried the chief.
"It is, unhappily, but too true," coolly answered Diogo. "It is especially with the design of assuring you of that news, and of taking with you the necessary dispositions—that is to say," said he, with a gracious smile, "to concert only measures of safety that it may suit you to adopt in the general interest, and to report them immediately to Tarou Niom, in order that he may efficiently support you, that he has sent me to his brother."
"So the whites are entering in all directions?"