He had hardly reached his home ere he heard that the savage had kept his vow.

He had shot and killed an innocent man, one Garret Van Voorst, who was thatching the roof of a house.

The chiefs of the tribe were terror-stricken, through fear of the white man's vengeance.

They did not dare to go to the fort lest they should be arrested and held as hostages.

But they hastened to an interview with DeVrees, in whom they had confidence, and expressed a readiness to make atonement for the crime, in accordance with the custom of their tribe, by paying a large sum to the widow of the murdered man.
It is worthy of notice that this custom, so universal among the Indians, of a blood atonement of money, was also the usage of the tribes of Greece We read in Homer's Iliad, as translated by Pope, "If a brother bleed, On just atonement we remit the deed; A sire the slaughter of his sons forgives, The price of blood discharged, the murderer lives." At length, encouraged by DeVrees and accompanied by him, the chiefs ventured to fort Amsterdam.