The sound of a firm, hasty footfall attracted his attention, and along the footpath winding beneath the canopy of forest trees lining the bluff overhanging the green water, a tall, athletic figure was approaching.

The keen glance of the chieftain noted the coming of the white man, but he remained motionless, as though he were a portion of the rock upon which he rested, rather than a conscious being, his gaze fixed upon the white line of foam-wreath lapping the opposite shore; and not a lineament of his grave face changed as the stranger halted within ten paces and stood regarding the noble figure of the aged chieftain with an admiration he could not repress.

"Can my red brother tell me where I may find Poggatticut, the Wise-man of the Manhansetts?" inquired the stranger, addressing the chief in the tongue common to the four tribes who dwelt upon the islands and inhabited the shores of the mainland, which we will translate as far as possible.

The chieftain turned his head and fixed his deepset, searching eyes upon the speaker, noting in one comprehensive survey every detail of face, form and

costume.

Poggatticut is here," returned the aged King, a glow of half-pride, half-anger in his eyes, which passed like the glimmer of the lightning among the dark clouds, as he laid his hand upon his breast. "I am Poggatticut. What would my white brother with the Sagamore of the Manhansetts?"

"I am called James Farret; and I come with a commission from the Commandant at Saybrook Fort to the Chief of the Manhansetts," replied the stranger, meeting the distrustful gaze bent upon him with a keen eye, a smile curving his finely-cut lips.

The chief rose to his feet with the quiet dignity befitting his station, his features composed; but the gleam in his eyes, playing like sparks of fire in the contracted pupils, warned the visitor that the errand upon which he had come would be likely to prove bootless.

"The wily old Sagamore will prove a thorn in the flesh, if I mistake not the inflexible expression writ on that granite front-I must try the potent power of whiskey. These savages are never proof against the seductions of the bottle," mused Farret, as he glanced furtively at the face of the Indian, then allowed his eyes to wander away across the shining waters, while he waited for the chieftain to speak.

But the lips of Poggatticut were sealed.

In person, the white man was of ordinary size, with perhaps greater breadth of shoulder and depth of chest than the average European; his limbs were well made and muscular to a degree, as revealed beneath the tightly-laced leggings, girded at the knee by breeches of brown corduroy. A serviceable coat of black camlet, with wide cuffs turned back at the wrists to exhibit the sleeves of a white linen shirt; the broad coat-collar rolled low, displaying a silver stock-clasp at the back of the neck, and the whole fashioned with wide pocket-flaps and capacious skirt. A handsomely-embroidered blue waistcoat of heavy silk was opened, revealing the ruffled shirt front to the waist line, which was girdled by a leathern belt. The hilt of his sheathed sword was silver-mounted in elaborate design, matched by the pattern on silver knee-buckles, stock-clasp, and the plate upon the breech of the short gun he carried, which bore the initials "J. F." in old English script. His belt was garnished by a pair of heavy navy-pistols, also silver

mounted, a bullet-pouch and powder-horn completing his warlike equipments. A broad hat rested upon his head, while his hair (after the fashion of the Royalist party during the reign of Oliver Cromwell) fell in curling masses across his neck. His eyes were steel-blue, keen and restless; his brow, from which the hat was pushed back, was broad at the base, narrowing and retreating at the top, his nose aquiline, with thin and expanded nostrils, his lips compressed, but well formed,-the entire countenance denoting the iron will and determination of the man who was the authorised agent of the Duke of York, with power-of-attorney to dispose of Long Island, and with the choice of retaining for his own the goodly area of 12,000 acres of such a portion of the grant as he should designate. And he had chosen Robins' Island, an emerald gem set in the heart of Great Peconic Bay, and Manhansett-aha-quash-a-warnuck 2 as his share in the land covered by the grant of the Duke of York across the blue waves; but to procure a title from the "Lords of the Soil" might prove a far more difficult task.

Twice had the granted lands been disposed of by the usurper, first, through his own sale to a single purchaser, who, in turn, had conveyed it to four grantees. They strenuously insisted upon a confirmation of their title from the King of the Manhansetts, whose dominions had been thus summarily possessed, and who, foreseeing the threatened extermination of his race, as well as the wholesale appropriation of its lands, had set his face as adamant, and turned a deaf ear to every solicitation that might aid in the encroachment of the pale-faces. James Farret, the silver-tongued agent, had been

2 Manhansett-aha-quash-a-warnuck.-Island sheltered by islands. Indian name for Shelter Island.

chosen as the fittest ambassador,-the man of all others to win the confidence of Poggatticut.

Side by side they stood, one a polished courtier, a diplomat from what had been the gayest court in Europe; the other, grand, majestic, even with a century of years weighing upon his mental and physical strength, a giant in intellect, a very bulwark to his people.

That the frosts of age had chilled his blood was apparent from the fact that, although the balmy May breezes were soft and warm, beneath his furry mantle he wore a loosely-fitting jacket of buckskin. His limbs were encased in fringed leggings reaching to the thigh, daintily ornamented with coloured quills and beads, patiently wrought from the purple suckau-hock, while the girdle at his waist, from which depended his broad knife, was of the same precious shell, so highly valued by all the tribes.

A single eagle plume was interwoven with the flowing scalp-lock, the symbol of authority, the coronet of an Indian king.

Presently the white man spoke:

"I am come, Great Chief, upon a mission of importance, to ask that a council of your chief men may be called, to deliberate upon a matter of the gravest importance both to my red and white

manu

*Suck-au-hock.-From the Indian "sucki," signifying black. "Black money." Seawan was the name of Indian money, of which there were two kinds: Wampum, signifying white, was factured from the stem of the periwinkle. Suck-au-hock was made from the inside shell of the quahaug. The Indians broke off half an inch of purple colour from the lining of the shell and converted it into beads. These were bored by sharp stones and strung on the sinews of deer, and when interwoven to a hand-breath were called a seawan or wampum belt. A black bead, one-third of an inch long, bored longitudinally and well, was the gold of the Indians-twice the value of the white. Either kind was esteemed by the Indians of much more value than European coin. It was both money and an ornament.

brothers. My path has been long and weary, even from the fort at Saybrook. I must, perforce, crave the shelter of your wigwam and food whereby I may sustain my strength while I tarry. Will the Great Sachem of the Manhansetts give what I ask?"

The chief turned his head and fixed his flashing eyes full upon the face of the white man, as if he would read his very soul, ere he replied:

"Before the pale-face came from beyond the sunrise, the red man held power and dominion from the waters of the big sea to the land of the setting sun, and when the pale-face brother came to the wigwam of the red man he was naked, cold and hungry, and with no shelter for his head; the red man gave him of the fur of the beaver, the skin of the bear and the elk, and warmed him by his wigwam blaze, fed him with corn and the flesh of the bear and the deer, and the fish of the stream and the sea, and gave him whereon to dwell. Shall the King of the Manhansetts do less?" inquired the chief, proudly.

"He will do no less; the hospitality of the great Sachem has never been doubted," returned Farret; "and though the Sachem of the Manhansetts cannot accept the gold of the new pale-face brother in exchange for shelter and food, let us drink to our better understanding, to the continued friendship which has so long existed between the red men of sea-wan-ha-ka and Manhansett-aha-quash-a-warnuck and their white brothers at Saybrook Fort."

The Sachem drew himself to his loftiest height, fairly transfixing the eyes of his tempter by the kindling spark in his own, and with a disdainful gesture waved back the hand that held a silver flask from which the stopper had been unloosed, and a strong scent of brandy emanated.