The remark was as near an untruth as the conscience of the good man
would permit him to go. No one, not even Simon Kenton, suspected The
Panther was afraid to meet any white man that lived in a personal
encounter. But the statement hit the chieftain in the most sensitive
spot.

"Does the white hunter think Wa-on-mon is afraid to meet him in the
depths of the wood, where no eye but that of the Great Spirit shall see
them?"

"How can he help thinking so when Wa-on-mon agrees to meet him, and the
white hunter goes to the spot, and waits for Wa-on-mon, who does not
come?"

"But Wa-on-mon has told the missionary the reason," said The Panther,
with a threatening movement and flash of his eyes.

"Wa-on-mon has not told the white hunter," returned the unruffled
Finley.

"The missionary can tell him."

"And he will do so, but what shall he tell the white hunter when he asks
whether Wa-on-mon will meet him again and prove he is not afraid?"

"Tell the white hunter that Wa-on-mon will meet him!" exclaimed The
Panther, with a concentrated fury of voice and manner surpassing that
which he had yet shown. He placed his hand threateningly upon his knife,
as though in his wrath he would bury it in the body of the good man as a
means of relief for the cyclone of hate that was aroused by his words.

It was the precise point for which Missionary Finley had been playing.
The preliminary conversation had been aimed to bring The Panther to see
that the only way he could save himself from the charge of cowardice was
by meeting Kenton in mortal combat. Such an issue, in which one of the
contestants must fall, was extremely distasteful to the man of peace.
There could be only one combination of circumstances that would justify,
in his judgment, that supreme test; that combination now existed.

With the skill of a trained diplomat, with his perfect knowledge of the
Indian character, Finley kept matters moving.

"It will delight the heart of the white hunter to meet Wa-on-mon, as
they were to meet only yesterday, and I know it will make glad the heart
of Wa-on-mon to meet the white hunter in the woods, where no one can see
them. Shall I tell the white hunter that these are the words of
Wa-on-mon?"

"They are Wa-on-mon's words; he will meet the white hunter."

This was all well enough, and the negotiation was progressing
satisfactorily; but the most delicate work yet remained to be done.

The arrangements for the encounter were y