"Wyandotté not newspaper to tell ebbery t'ing at once. Let cap'in talk like one chief speaking to anoder."
"Then, tell me first, what you know of this party at the mill. Are there many pale-faces in it?"
"Put 'em in the river," answered the Indian, sententiously; "water tell the trut'."
"You think that there are many among them that would wash white?"
"Wyandotté know so. When did red warriors ever travel on their path like hogs in drove? One red-man there, as Great Spirit make him; by his side two red-men as paint make 'em. This soon told on trail."
"You struck their trail, then, and joined their company, in that manner?"
Another nod indicated the assent of the Indian. Perceiving that the Tuscarora did not intend to speak, the captain continued his interrogatories.
"And how did the trail betray this secret, chief?" he asked.
"Toe turn out--step too short--trail too broad--trail too plain--march too short."
"You must have followed them some distance, Wyandotté, to learn all this?"