There might be some blood shed and a good
few blazing roof-trees in the back country, but no Indian raid would
stand against our lads. But I have a notion--maybe it's only a notion,
though Lawrence is half inclined to it himself--that there's more in
this business than a raid from the hills. There's something stirring in
the West, away in the parts that no White man has ever travelled. From
what I learn there's a bigger brain than an Indian's behind it."
"The French?" I asked.
"Maybe, but maybe not. What's to hinder a blackguard like Cosh, with
ten times Cosh's mind, from getting into the Indian councils, and
turning the whole West loose on the Tidewater??
"Have you any proof?" I asked, much alarmed.
"Little at present. But one thing I know. There's a man among the
tribes that speaks English."
"Great God, what a villain!" I cried, "But how do you know?"
"Just this way. The Monacans put an arrow through the neck of a young
brave, and they found this in his belt."
He laid before me a bit of a printed Bible leaf. About half was blank
paper, for it came at the end of the Book of Revelation. On the blank
part some signs had been made in rude ink which I could not understand.
"But this is no proof," I said.
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