They said he cheated them in his dealings, that his attachment to the red men was all pretence. That he was a paleface at heart, carrying on trade with the palefaces to the injury of the Indians. Killing them with his fire water which they gave them for their furs. In all this there was no little truth, but Flint, confident of his power over his new friends, paid no attention to it. A crisis came at last. One of the chiefs who had been made drunk by whiskey which he had received from Flint in exchange for a lot of beaver skins, accused the latter of cheating him; called him a paleface thief who had joined the Indians only for the purpose of cheating them. Flint forgetting his usual caution took the unruly savage by the shoulders and thrust him out of the lodge. In a few moments the enraged Indian returned accompanied by another, when the two attacked the white man with knives and tomahawks. Flint saw no way but to defend himself single-handed as he was, against two infuriated savages, and to do to if possible without killing either. This he soon discovered was impossible. The only weapon he had at command was a hunting knife, and he had two strong men to contend against. Fortunately for him, one of them was intoxicated. As it was, the savage who had begun the quarrel, was killed, and the other so badly wounded that he died a few hours afterwards. The enmity of the whole tribe was now aroused against Flint, by the unfortunate termination of this affair. It availed him nothing to contend that he had killed the two in self defence, and that they begun the quarrel. He was a white man, and had killed two Indians, and that was enough. Besides, how did they know whether he told the truth or not? He was a paleface, and palefaces had crooked tongues, and their words could not be depended upon. Besides their brethren were dead, and could not speak for themselves. Finally it was decided in the grand council of the tribe that he should suffer death, and although they called him a paleface, as he had joined the tribe he should be treated as an Indian, and suffer death by torture in order that he might have an opportunity of showing how he could endure the most horrible torment without complaining. The case of Flint now seemed to be a desperate one. He was bound hand and foot, and escape seemed out of the question. Relief came from a quarter he did not anticipate. The place where this took place was not on the borders of the great lakes where the tribe to which Flint had attached himself belonged, but on the shores of the Hudson river a few miles above the Highlands, where a portion of the tribe had stopped to rest for a few days, while on their way to New York, where they were going for the purpose of trading.