Instead of leading his party, he now brought up the rear;
and when arrived in the centre of the fort, he, without
any visible cause for the accident, stumbled, and fell
to the earth. The other chiefs for a moment lost sight
of their ordinary gravity, and marked their sense of the
circumstance by a prolonged sound, partaking of the
mingled character of a laugh and a yell. Startled at
the cry, Major Blackwater, who was in front, turned to
ascertain the cause. At that moment Ponteac sprang lightly
again to his feet, responding to the yell of his
confederates by another even more startling, fierce, and
prolonged than their own. He then stalked proudly to the
head of the party, and even preceded Major Blackwater
into the council room.
In this rude theatre of conference some changes had been
made since their recent visit, which escaped not the
observation of the quick-sighted chiefs. Their mats lay
in the position they had previously occupied, and the
chairs of the officers were placed as before, but the
room itself had been considerably enlarged. The slight
partition terminating the interior extremity of the
mess-room, and dividing it from that of one of the
officers, had been removed; and midway through this,
extending entirely across, was drawn a curtain of scarlet
cloth, against which the imposing figure of the governor,
elevated as his seat was above those of the other officers,
was thrown into strong relief.
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