, from the circumstance, that some of the
runners had already returned, and reported, that their enemies had been traced
so far, as to leave no doubt of their having sought safety in the neighbouring
camp of their suspected allies, the Delawares. With the advantage of possessing
this important intelligence, the chief warily laid his plans before his fellows,
and, as might have been anticipated from his eloquence and cunning, they were
adopted without a dissenting voice. They were, briefly, as follows, both in
opinions and in motives.
    It has been already stated, that in obedience to a policy rarely departed
from, the sisters were separated so soon as they reached the Huron village.
Magua had early discovered, that in retaining the person of Alice, he possessed
the most effectual check on Cora. When they parted, therefore, he kept the
former within reach of his hand, consigning the one he most valued to the
keeping of their allies. The arrangement was understood to be merely temporary,
and was made as much with a view to flatter his neighbours, as in obedience to
the invariable rule of Indian policy.
    While goaded, incessantly, by those revengeful impulses that in a savage
seldom slumber, the chief was still attentive to his more permanent, personal
interests. The follies and disloyalty committed in his youth, were to be
expiated by a long and painful penance, ere he could be restored to the full
enjoyment of the confidence of his ancient people; and without confidence, there
could be no authority in an Indian tribe. In this delicate and arduous
situation, the crafty native had neglected no means of increasing his influence;
and one of the happiest of his expedients, had been the success with which he
had cultivated the favour of their powerful and dangerous neighbours. The result
of his experiment had answered all the expectations of his policy - for the
Hurons were in no degree exempt from that governing principle of nature, which
induces man to value his gifts precisely in the degree that they are appreciated
by others.
    But while he was making this ostensible sacrifice to general considerations,
Magua never lost sight of his individual motives. The latter had been frustrated
by the unlooked-for events, which had placed all his prisoners beyond his
control, and he now found himself reduced to the necessity of suing for favours
to those whom it had so lately been his policy to oblige.
    Several of the chiefs had proposed deep and treacherous schemes to surprise
the Delawares, and by gaining possession of their camp, to recover their
prisoners by the same blow; for all agreed that their honour, their interests,
