The Shawnee drew himself up, he was tall and strong, and replied:
“If Shawnee meet Wyandotte bringing venison to his lodge does he ask him where he got it and take it from him?”
“If my brother kill the paleface and bring war on the tribes when there is peace, shall my lodge be burned by the braves of the paleface? No, my brother. Go back to Cornstalk and say Ahneota would sit in council with him before the hatchet is dug up,” saying which the old chief signified that the talk was at an end and the Shawnee withdrew discomfited.
When Rodney learned what the old chief had done in his behalf his heart warmed in gratitude toward the old savage. At first opportunity he thanked him, but the Indian made no reply. Caughnega soon after left the village and did not return before the village was moved that fall farther north, where the hunting was said to be better.
One day Louis came to him, crying, to bid him good-bye as Maman was to take him to the river, which he supposed meant back to his former home. She had told him he was to see Father Arbeille again and was to be taught how to be a wise boy. Louis did not want to go, and Rodney feared ill for the little fellow. There was nothing he could do, however. He did speak to Ahneota about it, and said he thought she had stolen the boy and intended no good toward him.
“She would be like bear for cub, she would die for him. Would Little Knife do as much?”
This name the savage had lately given the boy. The Indians termed the Virginians “Long Knives,” hence the name, “Little Knife,” applied to the lad.
That winter several of the men relied upon for hunting visited a distant tribe, and meat grew scarce. Since the departure of Caughnega and Maman, Rodney went about more freely and the old chief loaned his rifle and allowed him to hunt. He and Conrad made several excursions together. On one of these trips they set out with but little food and wandered for several days, nearly starved and half frozen. On the third day Conrad, discovering a hole half way up the trunk of a big tree, stopped.
“Vat you tink?” asked Rodney, mimicking his companion’s speech, for now they were excellent friends.