"If the Jester really was ignorant of it, is he ready to repair the fault he has committed?"
"The Jester has three hundred warriors beneath his totem. Eagle-head has come: they are his."
"Good! I see that the Jester is still my well-beloved son. With what chief has he made alliance? It cannot be with the Black Bear, the implacable enemy of the Comanches, the man who but four moons past burned two villages of my nation?"
"A cloud had passed over the mind of the Jester: his hatred for the white men blinded him; wisdom deserted him; he has allied himself with the Black Bear."
"Wah! Eagle-head did right to return toward the villages of his fathers. Will my son obey the sachem?"
"Whatever he orders I will do."
"Good! Let my son follow me."
The two chiefs rose. Eagle-head proceeded towards the isthmus, waving his buffalo robe in his right hand as a sign of peace. The Jester followed a few paces behind. The Comanches beheld with amazement their sachems asking an interview with the Yoris; but accustomed to obey their leaders without discussing the orders they were pleased to give, they evinced no anger at this step, whose object, however, they did not understand. The sentries posted behind the isthmus battery easily distinguished in the moon's rays the pacific movements of the Indians, and allowed them to come as far as the trench.
"A sachem wishes an interview with the chief of the palefaces," Eagle-head then said.
"Good!" a voice replied in Spanish from the inside. "Wait a moment—I will send for him."