This cold, stern reception did not astonish the captain; though his eyebrows were a little contracted, he feigned not to perceive it, and entered the village intrepidly at the head of his band.
When he arrived in front of the chiefs drawn up before the council lodge, the twenty horsemen stopped suddenly, as if they had been changed into statues of bronze.
This bold manoeuvre was executed with such dexterity that the hunters, good judges of horsemanship, with difficulty repressed a cry of admiration.
Scarcely had the pirates halted, ere the ranks of the warriors placed on the right and left of the lodge deployed like a fan, and closed behind them.
The twenty pirates found themselves by this movement, which was executed with incredible quickness, enclosed within a circle formed of more than five hundred men, well armed and equally well mounted.
The captain felt a slight tremor of uneasiness at the sight of this manoeuvre, and he almost repented having come. But surmounting this involuntary emotion, he smiled disdainfully; he believed he was certain he had nothing to fear.
He bowed slightly to the chiefs ranged before him, and addressed Belhumeur in a firm voice,—
"Where is the girl?" he demanded.
"I do not know what you mean," the hunter replied, in a bantering tone; "I do not believe that there is any young lady here upon whom you have any claim whatever."
"What does this mean? and what is going on here?" the captain muttered, casting around a look of defiance. "Has Loyal Heart forgotten the visit I paid him three days ago?"