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Froht, a great square of bark had been carefully reround On this fresh white scar were painted three significant syhteen inches by four, on which were designed two hu hands Below that, drawn in dark blue, were a pair of stag's antlers, of five prongs; below the antlers--a long way beloas depicted in black a perfectly recognizable outline of a timber-wolf
I rode up to the tree and examined the work The paint was still soft and fresh on the raood Flies swarn, and his scarcely perceptible nod told e was for me, personally and exclusively; and the red man who had traced it there not an hour since was an Iroquois, either Canienga, Onondaga, Cayuga, or Seneca--I know not which Roughly, the translation of the e was this: The Wolf meant me because about it were traced the antlers, syround, the syht, e sures on it indicated that, although the belt was red,war, the clasped hands n as follows: "An Iroquois desires to see you in order to converse upon a subject concerning wars and treaties"
"Turn over that stone, Little Otter," I said
"I have already done so," he replied quietly
"At what hour does this eers in silence
"Is this Canienga work?"
"Mohawk!" he said bitterly
The two terms were synonymous, yet a Nation No Indian uses the ter to or of a Mohawk unless they a is the proper tero forward?" I asked Little Otter, lowering my voice so that none except he could hear me
He siant pine, dwarfing the tallest tree within range of my vision froreat tree for the inscription was no accident; it now symbolized the sacred tree of the Six Nations--the tree of heaven Beneath it any Iroquois was as safe as though he stood at the eternal council-fire at Onondaga in the presence of the sache House But why had this unseen embassy refused to trust hiers, to whom no redskin is sacred