"The Spaniards are like chattering old women, prodigal of seductive words, but Unicorn knows them. How many times already has he trodden the warpath on their territory at the head of his warriors! They will not dare to deceive him. Ere the sun has twice accomplished its revolution round the tortoise whose immense shell supports the world, the chief of the Comanches will carry the bloody arrows to the whites, and propose to them peace or war. Is my brother satisfied?"
"I am. My heart is full of gratitude toward my red brother."
"Good! What is that to Unicorn? Less than nothing. Has my brother anything else to ask of me?"
"One thing more."
"Let my brother explain himself as quickly as possible, that no cloud may remain between him and his red brother."
"I will do so. Men without fear of the Great Spirit, urged by some mad desire, have carried off Doña Clara, the daughter of the white chief whom my brother pledged to save."
"Who are these? Does my brother know them?"
"Yes, I know them only too well. They are bandits, at the head of whom is a monster with a human face, called Red Cedar."
At this name the Indian started slightly, his eye flashed fire, and a deep wrinkle hollowed his forehead.
"Red Cedar is a ferocious jaguar," he said with concentrated passion. "He has made himself the scourge of the Indians, whose scalps he desires. This man has no pity either for women or children, but he possesses no courage: he only attacks his enemies in the dark, twenty against one, and when he is sure of meeting with no resistance."