"With your permission, I will speak to them," said Monsieur Gratiot, who
had come out also.

I looked up at him, and he was as calm as when he had joked with me a
quarter of an hour since.

"Very well," said Clark, briefly.

Monsieur Gratiot surveyed them scornfully.

"Where is the Hungry Wolf, who speaks English?" he said.

There was a stir in the rear ranks, and a lean savage with abnormal cheek
bones pushed forward.

"Hungry Wolf here," he said with a grunt.

"The Hungry Wolf knew the French trader at Michilimackinac," said
Monsieur Gratiot. "He knows that the French trader's word is a true
word. Let the Hungry Wolf tell his companions that the Chief of the Long
Knives is very angry."

The Hungry Wolf turned, and began to speak. His words, hoarse and
resonant, seemed to come from the depths of his body. Presently he
paused, and there came an answer from the fiend who had seized me. After
that there were many grunts, and the Hungry Wolf turned again.

"The North Wind mean no harm," he answered. "He play with the son of the
Great White Chief, and his belly is very sore where the Chief's son