“Or a bear,” said the Grey-Feather, cunningly slurring the Canienga word and swallowing the last syllable so that it might possibly have meant “Mohawk.”

The Wyandotte turned good-humouredly to the Mohican, not pretending to misunderstand this subtle double entendre and play upon words.

“You, Sagamore of the Loups,” he said, carrying out the metaphor, “are closer to the four-footed people than are we Wyandottes.”

“That is true,” said the Grey-Feather. “My elder brother, the Black-Snake, wears the two-legged hawk.”

Which, again, if it was meant that way, hinted that the Hawk was an alien clan, and neither recognized nor understood by the Oneida. Also, by addressing the Wyandotte as