hending.

"This oath of yours--to the English government. Does this fidelity so
clothe your body that it will not burn and crisp and crinkle in the
anguish as of your hell? Does your oath harden your flesh as a rock,
that arrows and knives shall not pierce it and sting and ache as they
stick there waiting for the slow fires to do their work? Will your oath
restore sight to your eyes when a red-hot iron has seared them?" He
could say no more for the chuckling delight that shook and shook his
lean old body.

Atta-Kulla-Kulla spoke in reproach. The Cherokee kings had offered
Captain Stuart life and practically liberty in exchange for this
service. If he denied it and talked of his oath, it was but just that
vengeance should take its way. Many a Cherokee had fallen dead from the
fire of his garrison of Loudon, both of great guns and small, and their
blood called still from the ground. A wise man was Captain Stuart, and
he would choose wisely.

He was a hearty man, still young, and in full vigor, and, although his
life had been but little worth of late, he was loath to throw it away.

He began to temporize, to try to gain time. He sought to talk
discontentedly of the project, as if he found it infeasible. The
commandant, he said, as if he contemplated him only as the leader of an
opposing force, would fight at an infinite advantage within the strong
defenses of Fort Prince George, while he outside, without intrenchments
except such hasty works as could be thrown up in a night, and beaten
down by the enemy's cannonade in the morning, could but expect to have
his guns soon silenced. A regular approach would be impracticable. The
Indians were not used to fight unscreened. They would never open a
parallel under fire, and a vigilant defense would make havoc among the
working parties.

He noted the effect of the unfamiliar military theories upon the
Indians, as they both seemed to anxiously canvass them.

"You cannot skulk behind a tree with cannon," he continued. "The
artillery, to be able to command the fort with its fire, would be within
range of the enemy's batteries, and without efficient cover it would be
necessary, in serving each piece, for the gunners to be exposed to fire
all the time."

An interval of deep, pondering silence ensued. At length
Atta-Kulla-Kulla said he believed there would be little or no fight on
account of the prisoners.

"What prisoners?" demanded Stuart, shortly.

Then Oconostota explained