But Big Fox merely shrugged his shoulders slightly, and answered in tones of lofty indifference: "Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat were sent by the old chiefs of the Shawnees to deliver peace belts to the chiefs of the Miamis, and they have delivered them." Brown Bear and The Bat nodded, but said nothing.

Yellow Panther looked at Braxton Wyatt, who was shaken by varying emotions.

As he truly said, he had long been in the Shawnee villages, but he had never seen or heard of the three warriors who now sat calmly before him--Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat.

Yet he could not say that no such men existed, because small parties had roved far and long on the hunt or the war trail.

He gazed at them before answering.