Jake Golcher and Habakkuk McEwen were evidently old acquaintances, and the Tory seemed to be trying to identify him through the paint that was daubed over his in such a loose fashion.  
Suddenly the Tory broke into a laugh and exclaimed:
 
"It's him, as sure as creation! I thought it when I first set eyes on you. Where did you come from, and why are you got up in that flowery style?"
 
"Sh! sh! sh!" exclaimed McEwen, contracting his brows and shaking his head; "I don't want these folks to know who I am. Don't speak my name."
 
"And why not?" asked the other, with another laugh, as he came closer to the captive.
 
"They think I'm a friend to 'em; they don't know I'm a Tory that come into the valley to raise partic'lar with the settlers."
 
Jake Golcher immediately became very sober and drew still closer to McEwen, still gazing sharply into his face. Then he asked in a low voice, which, however, was distinctly heard by the whites, so perfect was the stillness at that moment.
 
"Do you expect me to believe that?"
 
"You do as you please about it, but I've been with Colonel John Butler's forces for three days."
 
"Where was you during the battle this afternoon?"
 
"I was there," was the unblushing response; "I was out yesterday with a party under Ke-fi-ke-fa, the son of Queen Esther, who was shot by a party of settlers."
 
Whether Habakkuk all truth or not, the Tory knew he uttered it so far as concerned the son of Katharine Montour, queen of the Senecas. Her son was killed on the day preceding, as declared by the prisoner, and it was that cause, as I have already intimated, which served to excite her to such a pitch of fury during the battle and .
 
Jake Golcher looked at him again with the same searching gaze, as though he was partly convinced and sought to make sure by reading his countenance.
 
"What made you paint yourself up in this fashion?"
 
"So as to be took for an Injin."
 
"What did you want to be took for an Injin for?"<............