CHAPTER XVI.
THE SPY.
The pistol shot fired by the White Buffalo had not quite produced theresult the latter expected from it. The man was wounded; but the hastewith which the chief had been obliged to fire, injured the precisionof his aim, and the listener escaped with a slight wound; the bulletgrazed his skull, and only produced a copious hemorrhage. Still thishurt had been enough for the spy, who saw that he was unmasked, andthat a longer stay at the spot would inevitably produce a catastrophe;hence he ran off at full speed. After running for several minutes,feeling certain that he had thrown off any persons inclined to followhim, he stopped to draw breath, and attend to his wound, which stillbled profusely. In consequence, he looked anxiously around him; butall was silent and solitary. A dense snowstorm, which had been fallingfor many an hour, had compelled the Indians to seek shelter in theirlodges The firing of the pistol had caused no panic, for the Redskins,accustomed to nocturnal disputes in their villages, had not stirred.No other noise could be heard but the barking of a few straying dogs,and the hoarse cries of the wild beasts that wandered over the prairiein search of prey. The spy, reassured by the calm prevailing in thevillage, set about bandaging the wound, in his heart thanking the snowfor falling, as it effaced the traces of blood left in his flight.
"Come," he muttered, in a low voice, "I shall know nothing this night;the genius of evil protects those men; I will go into the cabin."
He turned a parting glance around, and prepared to start; but, at thesame moment, a white shadow, gliding over the snow like a phantom,passed a short distance from him.
"What is that?" the Indian muttered, suddenly assailed by asuperstitious terror. "Is the 'Virgin of the dark hours' wanderingabout the village? What terrible misfortune is menacing us then?"
The Indian bent forward, and, as if attracted by a superior power,followed with his eyes the strange apparition, whose white outline wasalready blending with the distant gloom.
"That creature is not walking," he said to himself, with terror;"she leaves no footfall on the snow. Is she a Genius hostile to theBlackfeet? There is a mystery about this which I must fathom."
The instinct of the spy heightening the curiosity of the Indian, thelatter soon forgot his terror for a moment, and rushed boldly inpursuit of the phantom. After an interval of a few minutes, the shadowor spectre stopped, and looked around with evident indecision. TheIndian, lest he might be discovered, had just time to hide himselfbehind the wall of a cabin; but a pale gleam of moonlight, emergingbetween two clouds, had, for a second, lighted up the face of theperson he was pursuing.
"Prairie-Flower!" he muttered, suppressing with difficulty a cry ofsurprise.
In fact, that was the person thus wandering about in the darkness.After some hesitation, the maiden raised her head, and walkedresolutely toward a cabin, the buffalo skin of which she lifted witha firm hand. She entered, and let the curtain fall behind her. TheIndian bounded up to the cabin, walked round it, thrust his knife upto the hilt in the wall, turned it round twice or thrice, to enlargethe hole, and, placing his ear to it, listened. The most complete quietcontinued to prevail in the village.
At the first step the young girl took in the lodge, a shadow suddenlyrose before her, and a hand fell upon her shoulder; instinctively sherecoiled.
"What do you want?" a menacing voice asked. This question was asked inFrench, which rendered it doubly unintelligible by the Indian girl.
"Answer! or I'll blow out your brains," the voice continued.
And the sharp sound produced by cocking a pistol could be heard.
"Wah!" the girl replied in her gentle, melodious voice, "I am a friend."
"It is evidently a woman," the first speaker growled, "but no matter,we must be prudent. What on earth does she want here?"
"Halloh!" Bright-eye suddenly shouted, aroused by this shortaltercation, "what's the matter there, what have you caught, Ivon?"
"My faith, I don't know; I believe it is a woman."
"Eh, eh," the hunter said, with a laugh, "let us have a look at that:don't let her escape."
"Don't be alarmed," the Breton replied, "I have hold of her."
Prairie-Flower remained motionless, not making the slightest effort toescape from the clutch of the man who held her. Bright-eye rose, felthis way to the fire, and began blowing it up. In a few minutes a brightflame burst forth, and illumined the interior of the lodge.
"Stay, stay," the hunter said, with surprise, "you are welcome, girl;what do you want here?"
The Indian maid blushed, and replied:--
"Prairie-Flower has come to visit her friends, the Palefaces."
"The hour is a strange one for a visit, my child," the Canadiancontinued, with an ironical smile; "but no matter," he added, turningto the Breton, "let her loose, Ivon; this enemy, if she is one, is notvery dangerous."
The other obeyed with ill grace.
"Come to the fire, girl," the hunter said, "your limbs are frozen; whenyou have warmed yourself, you can tell us the cause of your presencehere at this late hour."
Prairie-Flower smiled sadly, and sat down by the fire, Bright-eyetaking a place by her side. The girl had with one glance surveyed theinterior of the lodge, and perceived the Count sleeping tranquilly on apile of furs. Bright-eye's whole life had been spent in the desert; hewas thoroughly acquainted with the character of the Redskins, and knewthat circumspection and prudence are their two guiding principles. Thatan Indian never attempts anything without having first calculated allthe consequences, and that he never decides on doing a thing contraryto Indian habits, except from some pressing motive. The hunter,therefore, suspected that the object of the young girl's visit wasimportant, though unable to read, beneath the mask of impassibilitythat covered her face, the motive that caused her to act.
The Redskins are not, like other men, easy to question; cunning andfinesse obtain no advantage over these doubtful natives. The mostskilful Old Bailey practitioner would get nothing out of them, butconfess himself vanquished, after making an Indian undergo the closestcross-examination. If one of these shades of character were unknown tothe hunter; hence he was careful not to let the girl suppose that hetook any interest in her explanation.
With a nod of the head, Bright-eye soon gave Ivon the order to go tosleep again, which he did immediately. The girl was sitting by thefire, warming herself mechanically, while every now and then taking aside glance at the hunter. But the latter had lit his pipe, and, nearlyconcealed by the dense cloud of smoke that surrounded him, appearedcompletely absorbed in his agreeable occupation. The two remainedthus face to face nearly half an hour, and did not exchange a word;at length Bright-eye shook out the ash on his left thumbnail, put hispipe in his belt, and rose. Prairie-Flower followed his every movement,without appearing to attach any importance to it; she saw him collectfurs, carry them to a dark corner of the lodge, where he spread them soas to form a species of bed; then, when he fancied it was soft enough,he threw a coverlid over it, and returned to the fire.
"My Pale brother has prepared a bed," Prairie-Flower said, laying herhand on his arm, just as he was about to draw out his pipe again.
"Yes," he replied.
"Why four beds for three persons?"
Bright-eye looked at her with a perfectly natural amazement.
"Are we not four?" he said.
"I only see the two Pale hunters and my brother--for whom is the lastbed?"
"For my sister, Prairie-Flower, I suppose; has she not come to askhospitality of her Pale brothers?"
The girl shook her head.
"The women of my tribe," she said, with an accent of wounded pride,"have their cabins for sleeping, and do not pass the night in thelodges of the warriors."
Bright-eye bowed respectfully.
"I am mistaken," he said; "I did not wish to vex my sister; buton seeing her enter my lodge so late, I supposed she came to askhospitality."
The girl smiled with finesse.
"My brother is a great warrior of the Pal
efaces," she said; "his headis grey; he is very cunning; why does he pretend not to know the reasonthat brings Prairie-Flower to his lodge?"
"Because I am really ignorant of it," he replied; "how should I knowit?"
The Indian girl turned towards the place where the young man wassleeping, and said, with a charming pout--
"Glass-eye knows all: he would have told my brother the hunter."
"I cannot deny," the hunter said, boldly, "that Glass-eye knows manythings, but in this matter he has been dumb."
"Is that true?" she asked, quickly.
"Why should I deny it? Prairie-Flower is not an enemy to us."
"No, I am a friend: let my brother open his ears."
"Speak."
"Glass-eye is powerful."
"So it is said," the hunter replied, evasively, too honest to stoop toa lie.
"The elders of the tribe regard him as a genius superior to other men,arranging events as he pleases, and able, if he will, to change thecourse of the future."
"Who says so?"
"Everybody."
The hunter shook his head, and pressing the girl's dainty hands in hisown, he said, simply--
"You are deceived, child; Glass-eye is only a man like the others; thepower you have been told of does not exist: I know not for what reasonthe chiefs of your nation have spread this absurd report; but it is afalsehood, which I must not allow to go further."
"No, White Buffalo is the wisest sachem of the Blackfeet; he possessesall the knowledge of his fathers on the other side of the GreatSaltlake, he cannot err. Did he not announce, long ago, Glass-eye'sarrival among us?"
"That is possible; although I cannot guess how he knew it, as onlythree days ago we were quite ignorant that we were coming to thisvillage."
The maiden smiled triumphantly.
"White Buffalo knows all," she said; "besides, for many thousand moonsthe sorcerers of the nation have announced the coming of a man exactlylike Glass-eye: his apparition was so truly predicted, that his arrivalsurprised nobody, as all expected him."
The hunter recognized the inutility of contending any longer against aconviction so deeply rooted in the young girl's heart.
"Good," he replied; "White Buffalo is a very wise sachem. What is therehe does not know?"
"Nothing! Did he not predict that Glass-eye would place himself at thehead of the Redskin warriors, and deliver them from the Palefaces ofthe East?"
"It is true," the hunter said, though he did not know a word of whatthe girl was revealing to him; but he now began to suspect a vastplot formed by the Indians, and he naturally desired to know more.Prairie-Flower looked at him with an expression of simple joy.
"My brother sees that I know all," she said.
"That is true," he answered; "my sister is better informed than Isupposed; now she can explain to me, without fear, the service shedesires from Glass-eye."
The girl took a long glance at the young man, who was still sleeping.
"Prairie-Flower is suffering," she said, in a low and trembling voice;"a cloud has passed over her mind and obscured it."
"Prairie-Flower is sixteen," the old hunter answered, with a smile; "anew feeling is awakened in her; a little bird is singing in her heart;she listens unconsciously to the harmonious notes of those strainswhich she does not yet understand."
"It is true," the maiden murmured, suddenly growing pensive; "my heartis sad. Is, then, love a suffering?"
"Child," the hunter answered, with a melancholy accent, "creaturesare thus made by the Master of Life. All sensation is suffering. Joy,carried to an excess, becomes pain; you love without knowing it; lovingis suffering."
"No," she said, with a gesture of terror, "no, I do not love, at leastnot; in the way you say. I have come, on the contrary, to seek yourprotection from a man who loves me, whose love frightens me, and forwhom I shall never feel aught but gratitude."
"You are quite certain, poor child, that such is the feeling youexperience for that man?"
She bowed assent. Without saying anything further, Bright-eye rose.
"Where are you going?" she asked, quickly.
The hunter turned to her.
"In all that you have told me, child," he answered, "there are thingsso important, that I must without delay arouse my friend, that he maylisten to you in his turn, and, if it be possible, come to your aid."
"Do so," she said, mournfully, and let her head sink on her breast.The hunter went up to the young man, and bending over him, touched himgently on the shoulder. The Count awoke at once.
"What is it? What do you want?" he said, rising and seizing hisweapons, with the promptness that a man constantly exposed to danger sosoon acquires.
"Nothing that need frighten you, Mr. Edward. That young girl wishes tospeak to you."
The Count followed the direction in which the hunter pointed, and hisglance met that of the maiden. It was like an electric shock; shetottered, laid her hand on her heart, and blushed. The Frenchman rushedtoward her.
"What is the matter? What can I do to help you?" he asked.
Just as she was about to reply, the curtain was lifted; a man boundedsuddenly over Ivon, and reached the centre of the hut. It was the spy;the Breton suddenly aroused, flung himself on him, but the Indian heldhim back with a firm hand.
"Look out!" he said.
"Red Wolf!" the girl exclaimed, joyfully, as she stepped before him;"lower your weapons, it is a friend."
"Speak!" the Count said, as he returned the pistol to his belt.
The Indian had made no attempt to defend himself; he awaited stoicallythe moment to explain himself.
"Natah Otann is coming," he said to the maiden.
"Oh! I am lost if he find me here."
"What do I care for the fellow?" the Count said, haughtily.
"Prudence," Bright-eye interposed; "are you a friend, Redskin?"
"Ask Prairie-Flower," he answered, disdainfully.
"Good; then you have come to save her?"
"Yes."
"You have a way?"
"I have."
"I don't understand anything about it," Ivon said to himself, aside,quite confounded by all he saw; "what a night!"
"Make haste!" said the Count.
"Neither Prairie-Flower nor myself must be seen here," the Red Wolfcontinued; "Natah Otann is my enemy; there is deadly war between us.Throw all those furs on the girl."
Prairie-Flower, crouching in a corner, soon disappeared beneath theskins piled over her.
"Hum! it is a good idea," Bright-eye muttered: "and what are you goingto do?"
"Look!"
Red Wolf leaned against the buffalo hides that acted as door, andconcealed himself amid their folds. Hardly had all this been done, ereNatah Otann appeared on the threshold.
"What! up already?" he said, in surprise, turning a suspicious glancearound him.
Red Wolf profited by this movement to go out unseen by the Chief.
"I am come to receive your orders for the hunt," Natah Otann resumed.
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