it to council."

Elliott arose to carry out the order, and had pulled in the
deer-hide flaps, when one of them was jerked outward to disclose the
befrilled person of Jim Girty. Except for a discoloration over his
eye, he appeared as usual.

"Ugh!" grunted Pipe, who was glad to see his renegade friend.

Half King evinced the same feeling.

"Hullo," was Simon Girty's greeting.

"'Pears I'm on time fer the picnic," said Jim Girty, with his
ghastly leer.

Bill Elliott closed the flaps, after giving orders to the guard to
prevent any Indians from loitering near the teepee.

"Listen," said Simon Girty, speaking low in the Delaware language.
"The time is ripe. We have come here to break forever the influence
of the white man's religion. Our councils have been held; we shall
drive away the missionaries, and burn the Village of Peace."

He paused, leaning forward in his exceeding earnestness, with his
bronzed face lined by swelling veins, his whole person made rigid by
the murderous thought. Then he hissed between his teeth: "What shall
we do with these Christian Indians?"

Pipe raised his war-club, struck it upon the ground; then handed it
to Half King.

Half King took the club and repeated the action.

Both chiefs favored the death penalty.

"Feed 'em to ther buzzards," croaked Jim Girty.

Simon Girty knitted his brow in thought. The question of what to do
with the converted Indians had long perplexed him.

"No," said he; "let us drive away the missionaries, burn the
village, and take the Indians back to camp. We'll keep them there;
they'll soon forget."

"Pipe does not want them," declared the Delaware.

"Christian Indians shall never sit round Half King's fire," cried
the Huron.

Simon Girty knew the crisis had come; that but few moments were left
him to decide as to the disposition of the Christians; and he
thought seriously. Certainly he did not want the Christians
murdered. However cruel his life, and great his misdeeds, he was
still a man. If possible, he desired to burn the village and ruin
the religious influence, but without shedding blood. Yet, with all
his power, he was handicapped, and that by the very chiefs most
nearly under his control. He could not subdue this growing Christian
influence without the help of Pipe and Half King. To these savages a
thing was either right or wrong. He had sown the seed of unrest and
jealousy in the savage breasts, and the fruit was the decree of
death. As fa