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"O you Oneidas," came the sweet, serene voice, "at the tryst of the False-Faces I have kept my tryst. "You wise men of the Six Nations, listen now attentively; and you, ensigns and attestants, attend, honoring the truth which from my twin lips shall flow, sweetly as new honey and as sap from April maples."
He paused, looking straight at Dorothy. "From your knowledge," he said, slowly, "tell me who is this unknown woman." "Do you not know, sir?" she asked, simply. "Yes, I think I do, child. It is Magdalen Brant." "Yes," she said, quietly; "from childhood she stood as prophetess of the False-Faces. She is an educated girl, sweet, lovable, honorable, and sincere.
An hour later I sent Mount out to make a circle of a mile, strike the Iroquois trail and hang to it till dark, following any traveller, white or red, who might be likely to lead him towards the secret trysting-place of the False-Faces.
If, for any reason, you find these orders impossible of execution, send your report of the False-Faces' council through Sir George Covert, and push forward with the riflemen Mount, Murphy, and Elerson until you are in touch with Gansevoort's outposts at Stanwix. Warn Colonel Gansevoort that Colonel Barry St. Leger has moved from Oswego, and order out a strong scout towards Fort Niagara.
"Try? Yes, try, in Heaven's name, Sir George! If she must speak to the Oneidas, persuade her to throw her influence for peace, if you can. At all events, I shall know whether or not she goes to the fire, for I am charged by the General to find the False-Faces and report to him every word said.... Do you speak Tuscarora, Sir George?" "No; only Mohawk," he said.
"How are you going to find the False-Faces' meeting-place?" "If Magdalen Brant goes, I go," said I. "And while I'm watching her, Jack Mount is to range, and track any savage who passes the Iroquois trail.... What do you mean to do with Murphy and Elerson?" "Elerson rides back to the manor with our horses; we've no further use for them here.
Into the dense shadows of the debris I crawled, Mount and Sir George following, and lay there in the dark, staring at the forbidden circle where the secret mysteries of the False-Faces had already begun. Three great fires roared, set at regular intervals in a cleared space, walled in by the huge black pines. At the foot of a tree sat a white man, his elbows on his knees, his chin in his hands.
Had she gone to them as a white woman, using the arts of civilized persuasion, she could have roused them to war, but she could not have soothed them to peace. She knew it even I knew that among the Iroquois the Ruler of the Heavens can never speak to an Indian through the mouth of a white woman. As an Oneida, and a seeress of the False-Faces, she had answered their appeal.
"What ghastly manner of folk are these False-Faces?" I asked. "A secret clan, common to all Northern and Western Indians, celebrating secret rites among the six nations of the Iroquois. Some say the spectacle is worse than the orgies of the Dream-feast a frightful sight, truly hellish; and yet others say the False-Faces do no harm, but make merry in secret places.
No jewelled snake could shed her skin as deftly as this young maid had slipped from her shoulders the frail garment of civilization. The man beside me stood as though stunned. I was obliged to speak to him thrice ere he roused to follow Jack Mount, who, at a sign from me, had started across the dark hill-side to guide us to the trysting-place of the False-Faces' clan.
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