eeded toward his object with his customary
caution and skill. It was only when each one disposed to speak had
uttered his sentiments, that he prepared to advance his own opinions.
They were given with additional weight from the circumstance that some
of the runners had already returned, and reported that their enemies had
been traced so far as to leave no doubt of their having sought safety in
the neighboring camp of their suspected allies, the Delawares. With the
advantage of possessing this important intelligence, the chief warily
laid his plans before his fellows, and, as might have been anticipated
from his eloquence and cunning, they were adopted without a dissenting
voice. They were, briefly, as follows, both in opinions and in motives.

It has been already stated that, in obedience to a policy rarely
departed from, the sisters were separated so soon as they reached the
Huron village. Magua had early discovered that in retaining the person
of Alice, he possessed the most effectual check on Cora. When they
parted, therefore, he kept the former within reach of his hand,
consigning the one he most valued to the keeping of their allies. The
arrangement was understood to be merely temporary, and was made as much
with a view to flatter his neighbors as in obedience to the invariable
rule of Indian policy.

While goaded incessantly by these revengeful impulses that in a savage
seldom slumber, the chief was still attentive to his more permanent
personal interests. The follies and disloyalty committed in his youth
were to be expiated by a long and painful penance, ere he could be
restored to the full enjoyment of the confidence of his ancient people;
and without confidence there could be no authority in an Indian tribe.
In this delicate and arduous situation, the crafty native had neglected
no means of increasing his influence; and one of the happiest of his
expedients had been the success with which he had cultivated the favor
of their powerful and dangerous neighbors. The result of his experiment
had answered all the expectations of his policy; for the Hurons were in
no degree exempt from that governing principle of nature, which induces
man to value his gifts precisely in the degree that they are appreciated
by others.

But, while he was making this ostensible sacrifice to general
considerations, Magua never lost sight of his individual motives. The
latter had been frustrated by the unlooked-for events which had place