ent to bring a message of peace should be set free.
You have broken the pledge made by your council. You have attacked us
and made us prisoners, and brought us here where we may be tortured
and killed and none may know. But when the Great Mountain finds that
the Big Buffalo has not come back, when he sends his white soldier to
the villages of the Onondagas and asks what they have done to him who
brought his voice, what will you say? When the chiefs say, 'We set him
free,' and look about to find the warrior who has dared to disobey the
Long House, what will you say? When the young boys and the drunkards
with loose tongues have told the story of the death of the Long Arrow,
what will you say? Then you will be glad to flee to the white house of
the holy Fathers, knowing that they will protect you and save you when
the braves of your own blood shall pursue you."

Teganouan's eyelids had drooped, and now he was looking at the ground,
where the chief lay.

"You will come with me, Teganouan. You will fly with us over the Long
Lake, and through the forests and down the mighty rivers and over the
inland sea, and there you shall be safe; and you shall see with your
own eyes the punishment that the Great Mountain will give to the evil
man who has been false to the Onondagas."

He held out his hand, and silently waited. The priest's head was
raised, and his lips moved slowly in prayer. The maid sat rigid, her
hands tightly gripping the edge of the bench. Though he knew that
every moment brought nearer the chance of discovery, that the lives of
them all hung on a thread as slender as a hair, the Captain stood
without the twitching of a muscle, without a sign of fear or haste in
his grave, worn face.

The Indian's eyes wavered. He looked at the fallen chief, at the
priest, at Menard; then he took the offered hand. No further word was
needed. Menard did not know the thought that lay behind the cunning
face; it was enough that the Indian had given his word.

"Quick, we must hide him," said the Captain, looking swiftly about the
hut. "We must disturb you, Mademoiselle--"

In a moment the three men had lifted the body of the Long Arrow and
laid it away under the low bench. Teganouan scraped a few handfuls of
earth from a corner and spread it over the spot where the chief had
been.

"How far is it to the lake, Teganouan?"

"But a few rods."

"And the forest is thick?"

"Yes."

"We must cross the lake. Is there a canoe here?