"Nobody know. Don't know where
his tribe even."
"This is very extraor'nary, considering the influence the man seems
to enjoy. How is it that he has so completely got the ears of all
the red men, far and near?"
To this question Pigeonswing gave no answer. His own mind was so far
under Peter's control that he did not choose to tell more than might
be prudent. He was fully aware of the mysterious chief's principal
design, that of destroying the white race altogether, and of
restoring the red men to their ancient rights, but several reasons
prevented his entering into the plot heart and hand. In the first
place, he was friendly to the "Yankees," from whom he, personally,
had received many favors and no wrongs; then, the tribe, or half-
tribe, to which he belonged had been employed, more or less, by the
agents of the American government as runners, and in other
capacities, ever since the peace of '83; and, lastly, he himself had
been left much in different garrisons, where he had not only
acquired his English, but a habit of thinking of the Americans as
his friends. It might also be added that Pigeonswing, though far
less gifted by nature than the mysterious Peter, had formed a truer
estimate of the power of the "Yankees," and did not believe they
were to be annihilated so easily.
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