Captain de Haldimar, strongly excited both by the reports
of the shots that had been fired, and the sight of the
bloody tomahawk of the recently arrived Indian, gazed
earnestly and anxiously on the swarthy throng.

Glancing once more triumphantly round the circle, who
sat smoking their pipes in calm and deliberative silence,
the latter now observed the eye of a young chief, who
sat opposite to him, intently riveted on his left shoulder.
He raised his hand to the part, withdrew it, looked at
it, and found it wet with blood. A slight start of surprise
betrayed his own unconsciousness of the accident; yet,
secretly vexed at the discovery which had been made, and
urged probably by one of his wayward fits, he demanded
haughtily and insultingly of the young chief, if that
was the first time he had ever looked on the blood of a
warrior.

"Does my brother feel pain?" was the taunting reply. "If
he is come to us with a trophy, it is not without being
dearly bought. The Saganaw has spilt his blood."

"The weapons of the Saganaw, like those of the smooth
face of the Ottawa, are without sting," angrily retorted
the other. "They only prick the skin like a thorn; but
when Wacousta drinks the blood of his enemy," and he
glanced his eye fiercely at the young man, "it is the
blood next his heart."

"My brother has always big words upon his lips," returned