ion. Don't let them go to rest, but let
them eat as much, and as long, as they choose. Keep the old chief and
his men amused with long yarns, about what we mean to do in these
regions, and don't let any one follow me. Keep your mind easy. If I
don't return in three hours, you may set off to look for me, though it
will I fear be of no use by that time; and, stay, if you should hear a
pistol-shot, run out with all our men towards it. Now, Mozwa, lead on
to the enemy's camp."

The young Indian, who was evidently proud of the trust reposed in him,
and cared nothing for danger, stalked into the forest with the look and
bearing of a dauntless warrior.

CHAPTER TEN.

SALAMANDER GIVES AND RECEIVES A SURPRISE, AND WAR IS AVERTED BY WISE
DIPLOMACY.

It has been already said that our interpreter, Salamander, possessed a
spirit of humour slightly tinged with mischief, which, while it
unquestionably added to the amusement of our sojourn in those lands,
helped not a little to rouse our anxieties.

On returning to our men, after parting from Lumley, for the purpose of
giving them their instructions, I found that Salamander was missing, and
that no one could tell where he had gone. I caused a search to be made
for him, which was unsuccessful, and would have persevered with it if
there had not pressed upon me the necessity of obeying my chief's orders
to keep the savages amused. This I set about doing without delay, and
having, like my friend, been a diligent student of the language on the
journey, found that I succeeded, more than I had ventured to hope for,
in communicating my ideas.

As the disappearance of Salamander, however, was the subject which
exercised my mind most severely at the time, and as he afterwards gave
me a full account of the cause in detail, I shall set it down here.

Being possessed that evening, as he confessed, with a spirit of
restlessness, and remembering that our two Highlanders had been left to
guard the camp at Lake Wichikagan, he resolved to pay them a visit. The
distance, as I have said elsewhere, was not much more than six miles--a
mere trifle to one who was as fleet as a young deer and strong as an old
bear. He soon traversed the ground and came up to the camp.

At first he meant merely to give the men a surprise, but the spirit to
which I have already referred induced him to determine on giving them a
fright. Approaching very cautiously, therefore, with this end in view,
he foun