The men
were not eating now, although it was obvious that the hunters had
done well. The dressed bodies of deer and bear hung in the bark
shelters. Most of the Indians sat about the fires, and it seemed
to Henry that they had an air of expectancy. At least two
hundred were present, and all of them were in war paint, although
there were several styles of paint. There was a difference in
appearance, too, in the warriors, and Henry surmised that
representatives of all the tribes of the Iroquois were there,
coming to the extreme western boundary or fringe of their
country.
While Henry watched them a half dozen who seemed by their bearing
and manner to be chiefs drew together at a point not far from him
and talked together earnestly. Now and then they looked toward
the forest, and he was quite sure that they were expecting
somebody, a person of importance. He became deeply interested.
He was lying in a dense clump of hazel bushes, flat upon his
stomach, his face raised but little above the ground. He would
have been hidden from the keenest eye only ten feet away, but the
faces of the chiefs outlined against the blazing firelight were
so clearly visible to him that he could see every change of
expression.
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