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Then we noiselessly summoned the Grey-Feather, and he crept up to the log defence, rifle in hand, to sit there alone until his three hours' duty was finished, when the Yellow Moth and Tahoontowhee should take his place. It was already after sunrise when I was awakened by the tinkle of a cow-bell.
On the following afternoon I ventured from my concealment, and was striving to dig a grave for my two comrades, using my knife to do it, when the riflemen of our advance discovered me across the river. A moment later I looked up, my eyes blinded by tears, as the arm of the Sagamore was flung round my shoulders, and the hands of the Grey-Feather and Tahoontowhee timidly sought mine.
This made it necessary for me to call the Wyandotte into touch, which I did; and the other Oneida, the "Night-Hawk," or Tahoontowhee, closed in from the extreme outer flank. The presence of that canoe worried me, nor could I find any explanation for it. None of our surveyors was out no scouts had gone in that direction.
And I was well aware that with these Indians the success of any enterprise depended entirely upon their opinion of me, upon my personal influence with them. Dawn was breaking before the Sagamore turned his head toward me. I gave the signal to halt. "The Ouleout," whispered Tahoontowhee in my ear. "Here is its confluence with the Susquehanna."
A few moments later, Tahoontowhee, who had crept on ahead, glided up to us and whispered that there was a high breastwork of logs on the ridge, and that many men were cutting bushes, sharpening the stems, and planting them to screen this breastwork so that it could not be seen from the Seneca trail north of us, along which lay our army's line of march. A pretty ambuscade, in truth!
"But we must make a night march of it, and I could not endure that infamous creature's company, even if it were safe for us to take him with us." "My brother may remain tranquil. The Grey-Feather and I are watching him. The praying Indian and Tahoontowhee understand also. When we once are certain, the Erie dies."
Regis hunter whom Tahoontowhee slew." "Was he my mother's murderer!" "Who knows?" said the Sagamore softly. "Yet, this needle-book is a poor thing for an Indian to treasure and carry in a pouch around his neck for twenty years." The glow-worm spark in my tinder grew dull and went out. For a long while I lay there, thinking, awed by the ways of God so certain, so inscrutable.
Then shall the Oneida, Grey-Feather, mark clearly the tree so doubly designated. The Oneida, Tahoontowhee, covers our right flank, marching abreast of the Mohican; the Wyandotte, Black-Snake, covers our left flank, keeping the river bank in view. March!"
But we gained the denser growth undiscovered, then rose to our feet in the open forest and hurried forward in file, crowding close to keep in touch. Once Lois turned and called back in a low, breathless voice; "I thank Tahoontowhee from my heart for his true eye and his avenging arrow." The young warrior laughed; but I knew he was the proudest youth in all the West that night.
The Mohican, on guard by the Susquehanna, was watching me; and as soon as the Red Wings had started on his return, and was well across the Ouleout, I signalled the Sagamore to come to me, leaving the Mole and Tahoontowhee by the Susquehanna. "Blood-brother of mine," I said as he came up, "I ask counsel of a wiser head and a broader experience than my own. What is to be done with this Wyandotte?"