"But," Bob continued, shaking his head seriously, "think what would happen to him if they knew he had been hidden in the sacred oak, and assisted two palefaces to overhear the council!"
"Well, they are not going to know that, for a while at least," declared Sandy; "unless one of our prisoners happens to get away. We must make sure that so great a disaster does not occur."
"Surely. But here is Simon Kenton coming to join us. I have wanted to ask him many things about the village of the Senecas, where our Kate is a prisoner, and perhaps, while we sit here, waiting for Blue Jacket's return, he may give us some account of what he has seen among the lodges of Kiashuta."
The borderer threw himself down beside them.
"What were you two talking about just now?" he remarked, smiling in his pleasant way, for Kenton was a most agreeable young fellow, with winning manners that made him many friends, even though Boone looked upon him as a firebrand because of his extreme recklessness in fighting the Indians.
"I was just saying to Sandy that, since you have been in the Seneca village several times, you might tell us some of the things you saw there. Is it a very large place; are the Senecas feeling bitter against the white settlers; and what do they do when not on the warpath?"
"Both times that I was among the Seneca lodges it was in disguise," smiled Kenton, always ready to give information when it lay in his power. "A friendly Indian decked me out in paint and feathers, and, as I speak the language almost as well as one of the natives, I had little difficulty. I was supposed to be a strolling Cayuga, and received as such."
"But on this present expedition you did not venture to go in among the lodges, because of the added danger, I suppose?" Bob asked, deeply interested.
"Yes," Kenton continued; "one night we stole past the guard, and scouted around; but the dogs got scent of us, and we found it best to leave in a hurry. There was more or less of a row; but the Indians doubtless believed that it had only been some bold wild animal that had invaded the village in search of food. We easily covered our tracks, and, after that, decided to simply hang about, waiting for the coming of Pontiac."
"Then you could not know anything about our sister, or the location of Black Beaver's lodge?" asked Sandy, in a disappointed tone.