HOW WE CONQUERED HALLEOK TUSTENUGGEE. 225 



they WTote this answer, and I started fur here. Didn't I make 

 dirt fly for the first ten miles betwixt us ?" 



Having rattled off his account of the adventure, that left no 

 more mark on his danger-loving mind than an every-day encounter 

 would have done, he tossed his rifle in the hollow of his arm, and 

 lounged over to the cabin occupied by Colonel Worth. 



The missive he delivered was on clear white birch-bark, and 

 pictured a broken hatchet, and a half-circle of Indians sitting 

 around a council fire. Being translated, it read : " We have broken 

 our weapons of war, and are now consulting about peace; only 

 half our chiefs are here — we are waiting for them at the council." 



This message was on a par with many others that were con- 

 stantly passing between the Indians and white leaders, always on 

 the part of the Indian procrastinating and guarded. 



From Potter we learned many items of news from the east 

 coast, but none that served to interest us so much as the informa- 

 tion of Lou Jackson. It seemed that a month before Lou Jackson 

 had been in St. Augustine, and had embarked in a revenue cutter 

 to go down the coast with a relative who had been appointed light- 

 keeper somewhere in the neighbourhood of Key Biscayne. 



It seemed strange that after the danger experienced at the 

 plantation she would so soon go off to an equally exposed and 

 lonely life. Could she not find a better position than that of a 

 light-keeper's assistant ? Or did the lonely life it promised agree 

 with her disposition and her feelings of sadness ? 



Mike expressed his feelings, looking southward as if he could 

 see the light-house, by the words * Wall, wall ! " 



However, there was no explanation to be had, and after talking 

 it over, we turned to the frolic of the camp and the Indian nego- 

 tiations, which seemed rapidly approaching a definite result. 



A few days more at the lakes, and we found ourselves at Fort 

 King, having accompanied Colonel Worth with a detachment of 

 troops by the way of Warm Springs, where there was a collection 

 of Indian chiefs who had come in for a conference. 



This was one of the occasions of periodical truce, so common in 

 this war. Each party was glad of cessation from fight — the soldier 

 to be relieved from marching and incessant watchfulness, and the 



P 



