of our enemies, the gate would have been open for my
egress; but that rope is in itself an evidence I must
have stolen forth unknown to the garrison."

Whether it was that the warrior had his own particular
reasons for attaching truth to this statement, or that
he merely pretended to do so, Captain de Haldimar saw
with secret satisfaction his last argument was conclusive.

"Well, be it so," retorted the savage, while a ferocious
smile passed over his swarthy features; "but, whether
you have been here as a spy, or have merely ventured out
in prosecution of an intrigue, it matters not. Before
the sun has travelled far in the meridian you die; and
the tomahawk of your father's deadly foe--of--of--of
Wacousta, as I am called, shall be the first to drink
your blood."

The officer made a final effort at mercy. "Who or what
you are, or whence your hatred of my family, I know not,"
he said; "but surely I have never injured you: wherefore,
then, this insatiable thirst for my blood? If you are,
indeed, a Christian and a soldier, let your heart be
touched with humanity, and procure my restoration to my
friends. You once attempted my life in honourable combat,
why not wait, then, until a fitting opportunity shall
give not a bound and defenceless victim to your steel,
but one whose resistance may render him a conquest worthy
of your arm?"