“Then we should have their egress blocked, except only in the north?”

“Yes — unless they learn of this by magic,” muttered the Mohican.

It was utterly useless for me to decry or ridicule his superstitions; and there was but one way to combat them.

“If witchcraft there truly be in Catharines-town,” said I, “it is bad magic, and therefore weak; and can avail nothing against true priesthood. What could the degraded acolytes of this Red Priest do against a consecrated Sagamore of the Lenape — against an ensign of the Enchanted Clan? Else why do you wear your crest — or the great Ghost Bear there rearing upon your breast?”

“It is true,” he murmured uneasily.