Henry knew that the chances were against him, even with his
disguise, but he was bound to enter the Indian camp, and he was
prepared to incur all risks and to endure all penalties. He even
felt a certain lightness of heart as he hurried on his way, and
at length saw through the forest the flare of light from the
Indian camp.
He approached cautiously at first in order that he might take a
good look into the camp, and he was surprised at what he saw. In
a single day the village had been enlarged much more. It seemed
to him that it contained at least twice as many warriors. Women
and children, too, had come, and he heard a stray dog barking
here and there. Many more fires than usual were burning, and
there was a great murmur of voices.
Henry was much taken aback at first. It seemed that he was about
to plunge into the midst of the whole Iroquois nation, and at a
time, too, when something of extreme importance was going on, but
a little reflection showed that he was fortunate. Amid so many
people, and so much ferment it was not at all likely that he
would be noticed closely. It was his intention, if the necessity
came, to pass himself off as a warrior of the Shawnee tribe who
had wandered far eastward, but he meant to avoid sedulously the
eye of Timmendiquas, who might, through his size and stature,
divine his identity.
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