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64 voices sounded flat and expressionless  as they answered the questions put to them  or recited in unison a portion of the lesson. Indeed, David much questioned that they fully understood what they said save as a  parrot might! After a while the class was dismissed and went sedately forth, boys and  girls alike, and Pikot joined David and led  him out of the building and through the palisade gate and so to the river where, on a  flat stone above the stream, they sat themselves and began their talk.

“You came not for the fishing, Straight Arrow,” charged David. “To an Indian who does not keep his word I have naught to  say.”

Pikot smiled. “True, Noawama, yet ’twas not of choice that I failed you. I went a long journey that took many days and I  could not send you word.”

“A long journey?” asked David eagerly. “Whither did you go?”

The Indian’s expression became strangely blank as he waved his hand vaguely westward. “Toward the Great River, David.”

“That they call the Connecticote? Tell me of your journey, Pikot. What did you go for?”