"Yes, Chief, I will go at once and do so."
The conference was over. The three men separated, after again saluting, and Bright-eye and Ivon hurried back to the entrenchments.
"Victory!" the hunter said, on arriving, "we are saved!"
All pressed round him, greedy to learn the details of the conference, and Bright-eye satisfied the general curiosity without a moment's delay.
"Ah!" Black said, "if the old lady is with them we are, indeed, saved," and he rubbed his hands joyfully.
After having failed so unluckily in the snare she had laid for Natah Otann, Mrs. Margaret, far from being discouraged, felt her desire of revenge increased; and, without losing time in regretting the check she had undergone, she immediately drew up her plans, for she had reached that pitch of rage when a person is completely blinded by hatred, and goes onward regardless of consequences. Ten minutes after leaving the Sachem, she quitted the camp, accompanied by Red Wolf, who, by her orders, led off the warriors he commanded and started for the clearing.
Bright-eye had scarce given his friends the information they desired, ere Margaret and Red Wolf entered the stockade, where they were received with the greatest affability by the trappers, and especially by Black, who was delighted to find that his clearing was not menaced, and that the storm was turning from him to burst elsewhere.
Let us now return to Fort Mackenzie, where, at this very moment, events of the utmost importance were occurring.