Had it been a white man he would have shown more or less astonishment at this startling news. Blue Jacket, being an Indian, and schooled to repress his feelings on all occasions, merely grunted, as he replied:
"Bad! Much hard get back. How know?"
Between them the two boys related how the awful shock had come upon them while they were about to return home after a successful hunt. They also mentioned what the reader already knows about Pat O'Mara being on the trail in advance, determined to save the daughter of his good friends.
"And you, Blue Jacket, will you not join us?" asked Sandy.
The young Shawanee never hesitated an instant to consider the matter.
"Me go where Bob, Sandy go. Never forget him mother, what she do. Tell much more. No can walk in woods till rest. Four Iroquois say? Who?" he said, in the terse way that was so much a part of his stoical nature.
"We believe that she was stolen by a young Seneca chief known by the name of Black Beaver among the settlers. Do you know him, Blue Jacket?" asked Bob.
He felt the Shawanee start, which told him that what he said must have given their red friend a shock.
"Black Beaver sent down by Pontiac, visit my people with war arrow. Tell that red men all over north ready dig up hatchet, and go on warpath. How Bob, Sandy see um?" he asked.
"He and three of his braves came to our settlement some time ago," returned the white boy. "They created quite an excitement, for it was believed that we were about to be attacked by the enemy. But they held their hands out, palms upward, in token of peace, and said they were a long way from their lodges, with their tobacco gone, and little ammunition left with which to kill game. So we gave them of both, and they pretended to go their way, saying that they were the friends of the white man."