ame running
between the trees. She dropped to a rapid walk, and did not stop until
she was among them.

"Where do you come from?" asked Red Wolf, in the Delaware tongue.

"My father, the great Omas, brought me to see my friend Alice. He left
me with her people, and you must not harm them."

"Why did Omas leave you with them?"

"They are my friends."

It should be said the Senecas, who calmly listened to the conversation,
understood all that was said.

"Where are you going?"

"A long way through the wood."

"Why does Omas leave you with the palefaces? You should be in your own
wigwam many miles away."

"He knows I am safe with them. He led us through the woods until
he could leave us; then he went back to the great river between the
mountains to help the other warriors fight."

None of the three could doubt that the child was speaking the truth.
They held the prowess of Omas in high respect; but they were not the
ones to surrender such a prize as was already theirs.

"We will take them back to Wyoming with us," said Red Wolf; "then Omas
may do as he thinks best with them."

With a shrewdness far beyond her years, Linna said--"He wants them to go
to the other big river, off yonder"--pointing eastward. "Why do you wish
to take them back to Wyoming?"

"If he wants them to go to the other big river, he can send them after
he sees them again."

"You will make Omas angry; he will strike you down with his tomahawk,"
said Linna.

Although these words were the words of a child, they produced their
effect. Red Wolf knew how deeply the grim warrior loved his only
daughter, and he knew, too, how terrible was the wrath of the warrior.
Omas had chosen to spare this family from the cruelty visited upon so
many others. If Red Wolf dared to run the risk of rousing the vengeance
of Omas, he must take the consequences. He shrank from doing so.

The Delaware beckoned to one of the Senecas, and they stepped aside and
talked a few minutes, in tones too low for the listening Linna to hear
what was said. Subsequent events, however, made clear the meaning of
their conversation.

Red Wolf proposed to spare the fugitives. He wished to go away with his
companions and leave them to pursue their flight without molestation, so
far as they were concerned.

But the Senecas held Omas in less dread than did Red Wolf. They were
unwilling to let the whites escape. The third warrior, who joined them,
was as strenuous as the first. Wh