They were addressed
to Major de Haldimar, and briefly stated that a treacherous
plan was in contemplation by the enemy to surprise the
fort, which the bearer, Oucanasta (the latter word strongly
marked), would fully explain, if she could possibly obtain
access within. From the narrative entered into by Clara,
who had particularly dwelt on the emotions of fear that
had sprung up in her own and cousin's heart by the sudden
transformation of a supposed harmless beaver into a fierce
and threatening savage, he had no difficulty in solving
the enigma.
The Indian, in whom he had recognised the young chief
who had saved him from the fury of Wacousta, had evidently
been won upon by his sister to perform a service which
offered so much less difficulty to a warrior than to a
woman; and it was clear, that, finding all other means
of communication with the fort, undiscovered by his own
people, impracticable, he had availed himself of the
opportunity, when he saw the boat waiting on the strand,
to assume a disguise so well adapted to insure success.
It was no remarkable thing in these countries, to see
both the beaver and the otter moving on the calm surface
of the waters in the vicinity of the forts, even at
mid-day; and occupied as the Indians were, to a man, at
that moment with their cruel projects, it was by no means
likely that their attention should have been called off
from these to so apparently unimportant a circumstance.
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