elf," murmured Captain Mackintosh, "but my
duty compels me to be here, and even for my dear children's sake, I must
not desert my post when danger threatens."

It was some time before Le Brun could catch the horse he had selected.

Captain Mackintosh endeavoured to conceal his anxiety, especially from
his visitors, whose keen eyes had been watching him narrowly though in
no other way did they show that they suspected the little hump-backed
Indian had come with any information relating to them. Captain
Mackintosh, who had gone up to the platform, gave a sigh of relief, as
he at length saw Le Brun gallop off at full speed in the direction the
riding party had taken.

Having seen Le Brun off, Captain Mackintosh returned to superintend the
trading, which the Indians seemed inclined to prolong more than usual.
They haggled over every article, and insisted on their peltries being
weighed more than once, on the pretence that there was some mistake, or
that the scales were out of order. They examined the goods offered to
them over and over again, handing them round to each other, and
criticising their quality. They then requested that tobacco might be
supplied to them, as they were inclined to have a smoke before
proceeding further.

One of them then got up and spoke. The meaning of his speech was
difficult to understand, though uttered with that flow of language of
which most Indians have the command.

Captain Mackintosh bore all this with the necessary patience. He did
not wish to come to a rupture with his visitors, though from the warning
he had received, he strongly suspected that treachery was intended.

As time went on, he became more and more anxious at not seeing the girls
and Hector return.

At length he went to the platform, but not a glimpse of the riding party
could he discover. On his return he found the Indians still smoking
their pipes. He inquired whether they intended to sell the remainder of
their peltries, when one of them getting up stated that they wished to
hold a council on the subject, and asked permission to sleep in the
fort, that they might be prepared the next morning to continue their
trading.

Captain Mackintosh replied that he had made it a rule to allow no
strangers to sleep within the fort, that they might leave their peltries
if they chose, that they would be perfectly safe, and that they could
sleep in the hut built expressly for the purpose outside the gate.

This answer ap