"I see all you tell me. You know, then, that those fellows have made friends with the hostile party?"
"No need know--see. Look--Injin chop, pale-face look on! Call that war?"
"I do see that which satisfies me the men in paint yonder are not all red men."
"No--cap'in right--tell him so at wigwam. But dat Mohawk--dog--rascal--Nick's enemy!"
This was said with a gleam of fierceness shooting across the swarthy face, and a menacing gesture of the hand, in the direction of a real savage who was standing indolently leaning against a tree, at a distance so small as to allow those on the rock to distinguish his features. The vacant expression of this man's countenance plainly denoted that he was totally unconscious of the vicinity of danger. It expressed the listless vacancy of an Indian in a state of perfect rest--his stomach full, his body at ease, his mind peaceful.
"I thought Nick was not here," the captain quietly observed, smiling on the Tuscarora a little ironically.
"Cap'in right--Nick no here. Well for dog 'tis so. Too mean for Wyandotté to touch. What cap'in come for? Eh! Better tell chief--get council widout lightin' fire."
"As I see no use in concealing my plan from you, Wyandotté,"--Nick seemed pleased whenever this name was pronounced by others--"I shall tell it you, freely. Still, you have more to relate to me. Why are you here?--And how came you to discover us?"
"Follow trail--know cap'in foot--know serjeant foot--know Mike foot--see so many foot, follow him. Leave so many" holding up three fingers "in bushes--so many" holding up two fingers "come here. Foot tell which come here--Wyandotté chief--he follow chief."
"When did you first strike, or see our trail, Tuscarora?"