The three looked at the little girl in amazement, as she came running between the trees. She dropped to a rapid walk, and did not stop until she was among them. "Where do you come from?" asked Red Wolf, in the Delaware tongue. "My father, the great Omas, brought me to see my friend Alice. He left me with her people, and you must not harm them." "Why did Omas leave you with them?" "They are my friends." It should be said the Senecas, who calmly listened to the conversation, understood all that was said. "Where are you going?" "A long way through the wood." "Why does Omas leave you with the palefaces? You should be in your own wigwam many miles away." "He knows I am safe with them. He led us through the woods until he could leave us; then he went back to the great river between the mountains to help the other warriors fight." None of the three could doubt that the child was speaking the truth. They held the prowess of Omas in high respect; but they were not the ones to surrender such a prize as was already theirs. "We will take them back to Wyoming with us," said Red Wolf; "then Omas may do as he thinks best with them." With a shrewdness far beyond her years, Linna said--"He wants them to go to the other big river, off yonder"--pointing eastward. "Why do you wish to take them back to Wyoming?" "If he wants them to go to the other big river, he can send them after he sees them again." "You will make Omas angry; he will strike you down with his tomahawk," said Linna. Although these words were the words of a child, they produced their effect. Red Wolf knew how deeply the grim warrior loved his only daughter, and he knew, too, how terrible was the wrath of the warrior. Omas had chosen to spare this family from the cruelty visited upon so many others. If Red Wolf dared to run the risk of rousing the vengeance of Omas, he must take the consequences. He shrank from doing so. The Delaware beckoned to one of the Senecas, and they stepped aside and talked a few minutes, in tones too low for the listening Linna to hear what was said. Subsequent events, however, made clear the meaning of their conversation. Red Wolf proposed to spare the fugitives. He wished to go away with his companions and leave them to pursue their flight without molestation, so far as they were concerned. But the Senecas held Omas in less dread than did Red Wolf. They were unwilling to let the whites escape. The third warrior, who joined them, was as strenuous as the first. While one might have shrunk from stirring the anger of the famous Delaware, the two together did not hesitate to run counter to his wishes. They refused to be dissuaded by Red Wolf. They remained apart from the girl for ten minutes, earnestly conversing, while she could not overhear a word. Finally one of the three--a Seneca--turned about and walked away, as if impatient with the dispute. He took a course leading from the stream, and deeper into the woods.