, but the Bethucks will go on the war-path to the coast
and sweep the paleface settlement into the sea!"

It was of no avail that Hendrick pleaded the cause of the prisoners
earnestly, and set forth eloquently all that could be said in their
favour, especially urging that some of them had been kind to the two
Indians who first visited the white men. Rising Sun had been a
favourite with the chief; she was dead--and so the palefaces must die!

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

TELLS OF TERRIBLE SUSPENSE--VIOLENT INTENTIONS AND RELIGIOUS DISCUSSION.

"Now I tell you what it is, Master Hendrick," said Captain Trench, the
day after their arrival at the Indian camp. "I see this is goin' to be
an ugly business, an' I give you fair warning that I'm goin' to git
surly. I won't stand by quietly and see Grummidge and my men
slaughtered before my eyes without movin' a finger. I'll keep quiet as
long as there's any chance of all your palaverin' resulting in anything,
but if the worst comes to the worst I'll show fight, even if I should
have to stand alone with all the red devils in Newfoundland arrayed
against me."

"I honour your feelings, Captain Trench, but doubt your judgment. How
do you propose to proceed?"

"Will you join me? Answer me that question first."

"I will join you in any scheme that is reasonable," returned Hendrick,
after a pause, "but not in a useless attempt to fight against a whole
colony of Indians."

"Then I'll keep my plans of procedure in my own noddle," said the
captain, turning away with an indignant fling, and taking the path that
led to the cave or prison-house of his shipmates, for as yet they were
allowed free intercourse with their friends.

"Grummidge," said he, in a stern voice, as he squatted down on the floor
beside the unfortunate seaman, "things look bad, there's no doubt about
that, an' it would be unkind deception to say otherwise, for that
villain Bearpaw seems to git harder and harder the more they try to
soften him. Now what I want to know is, are you an' the others prepared
to join me, if I manage to cut your cords an' give you weapons, an'--"

"Shush! clap a stopper on your mouth, cappen," said Grummidge in an
undertone, "the redskins are listening."

"An' what then? They know no more about English than I know about
Timbuctoosh," returned the captain irascibly. "Let 'em listen! What I
was a-goin' to say is, are you an' the other lads ready to follow me
into the woods an' bol