His fawn eyes were startled, but he continued to hug his knees.
"Skenedonk, I can't quarrel with you. You were my friend before I could remember. When you know I am so bound to you, how can you deal me a deadly hurt?"
"White woman sorcery is the worst sorcery. You thought I never saw it. But I did see it. You went after her to Paris. You did not think of being the king. So you had to come back with nothing. That's what woman sorcery does. Now you have power with the tribes. The President sees you are a big man! And she sends a book to you to bewitch you! I knew she sent the book as soon as I saw it."
"Do you think she sent Paul?"
He made no answer.
"Madame de Ferrier does not know I have the book."
"You haven't it," said Skenedonk.
"But you have."
"If she wrote and sent a letter she expected it would be received."
"When I said a letter I meant what is called a journal: the writing down of what happens daily. Johnny Appleseed got the book from an Indian. That is how it was sent to me."