How long, moreover, would
these taciturn and forbidding-mannered savages wait before
they gave some indication of overt hostility, and even
if nothing were done prior to the arrival of the fishing
party, would these latter be in sufficient force to awe
them into a pacific departure? The Indians were twelve
in number, exclusive of their chief, all fierce and
determined. They, with the soldiers, nine; for neither
Mr. Heywood nor Le Noir seemed disposed to count upon
any efficient aid from Ephraim Giles, who, during this
dumb scene, continued whittling before the Indians,
apparently as cool and indifferent to their presence, as
if he had conceived them to be the most peaceably disposed
persons in the world. He had, however, listened attentively
to the order given to Wilton by his master, and had not
failed to remark that the Indians had not, in any way,
attempted to impede his departure.
"What do you think of these people, Le Noir," at length
asked Mr. Heywood, without, however removing his gaze
from his visitors. "Can they be friendly Pottawattamies?"
"Friendly Pottawattamies! no, sare," returned the Canadian
seriously, and shrugging up his shoulders.
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