Two of the Iroquois were slain at the very edge of the solid ground, but their bodies fell back in the slime, and the others, retreating fast for their lives, could not carry them off.Paul, with a kind of fascinated horror, watched the dead painted bodies sink deeper.Then one was entirely gone.The hand of the other alone was left, and then it, too, was gone.But the five had held the island, and Carpenter was leading the fugitives on toward Fort Penn.They had not only held it, but they believed that they could continue to hold it against anything, and their hearts became exultant.Something, too, to balance against the long score, lay out there in the swamp, and all the five, bitter over Wyoming, were sorry that Braxton Wyatt was not among them.
The stillness came again.The sun did not break through the heavy gray sky, and the somber shadows brooded over "The Shades of Death." They heard again the splash of water animals, and a swimming snake passed on the murky surface.Then they heard the wolf's long cry, and the long cry of wolf replying.
"More Iroquois coming," said Shif'less Sol." Well, we gave them a pretty warm how d'ye do, an' with our rifles and double-barreled pistols I'm thinkin' that we kin do it ag'in.""We can, except in one case," said Henry, " if the new party brings their numbers up to fifty or sixty, and they wait for night, they can surround us in the darkness.Perhaps it would be better for us to slip away when twilight comes.Carpenter and the train have a long lead now.""Yes," said Shif'less Sol," Now, what in tarnation is that?""A white flag," said Paul.A piece of cloth that had once been white had been hoisted on the barrel of a rifle at a point about sixty yards away.
"They want a talk with us," said Henry.
"If it's Braxton Wyatt," said Long Jim, "I'd like to take a shot at him, talk or no talk, an' ef I missed, then take another.""We'll see what they have to say," said Henry, and he called aloud: "What do you want with us?""To talk with you," replied a clear, full voice, not that of Braxton Wyatt.
"Very well," replied Henry, "show yourself and we will not fire upon you."A tall figure was upraised upon a grassy hummock, and the hands were held aloft in sign of peace.It was a splendid figure, at least six feet four inches in height.At that moment some rays of the setting sun broke through the gray clouds and shone full upon it, lighting up the defiant scalp lock interwoven with the brilliant red feather, the eagle face with the curved Roman beak, and the mighty shoulders and chest of red bronze.It was a genuine king of the wilderness, none other than the mighty Timmendiquas himself, the great White Lightning of the Wyandots.
"Ware," he said, "I would speak with you.Let us talk as one chief to another."The five were amazed.Timmendiquas there! They were quite sure that he had come up with the second force, and he was certain to prove a far more formidable leader than either Braxton Wyatt or Moses Blackstaffe.But his demand to speak with Henry Ware might mean something.
"Are you going to answer him?" said Shif'less Sol.
"Of course," replied Henry.
"The others, especially Wyatt and Blackstaffe, might shoot.""Not while Timmendiquas holds the flag of truce; they would not dare."Henry stood up, raising himself to his full height.The same ruddy sunlight piercing the somber gray of the clouds fell upon another splendid figure, a boy only in years, but far beyond the average height of man, his hair yellow, his eyes a deep, clear blue, his body clothed in buckskin, and his whole attitude that of one without fear.The two, the white and the red, kings of their kind, confronted each other across the marsh.
"What do you wish with me, Timmendiquas?" asked Henry.In the presence of the great Wyandot chief the feeling of hate and revenge that had held his heart vanished.He knew that Paul and Shif'less Sol would have sunk under the ruthless tomahawk of Queen Esther, if it had not been for White Lightning.He himself had owed him his life on another and more distant occasion, and he was not ungrateful.So there was warmth in his tone when he spoke.
"Let us meet at the edge of the solid ground," said Timmendiquas, "I have things to say that are important and that you will be glad to hear."Henry walked without hesitation to the edge of the swamp, and the young chief, coming forward, met him.Henry held out his hand in white fashion, and the young chief took it.There was no sound either from the swamp or from those who lay behind the logs on the island, but some of the eyes of those hidden in the swamps watched both with burning hatred.
"I wish to tell you, Ware," said Timmendiquas, speaking with the dignity becoming a great chief, "that it was not I who led the pursuit of the white men's women and children.I, and the Wyandots who came with me, fought as best we could in the great battle, and I will slay my enemies when I can.We are warriors, and we are ready to face each other in battle, but we do not seek to kill the squaw in the tepee or the papoose in its birch-bark cradle."The face of the great chief seemed stirred by some deep emotion, which impressed Henry all the more because the countenance of Timmendiquas was usually a mask.
"I believe that you tell the truth," said Henry gravely.
"I and my Wyandots," continued the chief, "followed a trail through the woods.We found that others, Senecas and Mohawks, led by Wyatt and Blackstaffe, who are of your race, had gone before, and when we came up there had just been a battle.The Mohawks and Senecas had been driven back.It was then we learned that the trail was made by women and little children, save you and your comrades who stayed to fight and protect them.""You speak true words, Timmendiquas," said Henry.
