This last paid little attention to the work about the castle, either
knowing it would, at any moment, by an act of treachery, be in his
power to render all these precautions of no avail; or, relying on
the amount of savage force that he knew was about to collect in the
openings. Whenever he cast a glance on the progress of the work, it
was with an eye of great indifference; once he even carried his
duplicity so far, as to make a suggestion to the corporal, by means
of which, as he himself expressed it, in his imperfect English--
"Injin no get inside, to use knife and tomahawk." This seeming
indifference, on the part of Peter, did not escape the observation
of the bee-hunter, who became still less distrustful of that
mysterious savage, as he noted his conduct in connection with the
dispositions making for defence.
Le Bourdon would not allow a tree of any sort to be felled anywhere
near his abode. While the corporal and his associates were busy in
digging the trench, he had gone to a considerable distance, quite
out of sight from Castle Meal, and near his great highway, the
river, where he cut and trimmed the necessary number of burr-oaks
for the palisades.
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