religion. One scale was weighted with the immemorial customs and usages of a great and proud people; the other with a white man’s subtle and flattering recognition of these customs, conveyed in metaphor, which all Indians adore, and appealing to imagination — an appeal to which no Huron, no Iroquois, no Algonquin, is ever deaf.

In the breathless silence of suspense the irritable, high-pitched voice of Colonel Sheldon came to my ears. It seemed that after all he had sent out a few troopers and that one had just returned to report a large body of horsemen which had passed the Bedford road at a gallop, apparently headed for Ridgefield. But I scarcely noted what was being discussed in the further end of the hall, so intent was I on the Sagamore’s reply — if, indeed, he meant to answer me at all.