Dove-eye was not as slow of sight as Silas Wormley appeared to be. She
noticed the signals of Old Blaze, and came to him as the trader left
him.
“Did the white hunter beckon to Dove-eye?” she asked. “I am here. What
does he want?”
“Dove-eye is as beautiful as she is brave,” replied the hunter, in her
own language. “Being beautiful and brave, she must have a heart, and
she can feel for those who are in distress. I have been hunted down and
captured by the Arapahoes, although I have done them no harm. I did not
come here to harm them.”
“Dove-eye has seen Burnt Face in battle, and she knows that he is a
great brave. He has killed many Arapahoes, and the warriors would be
angry if they should lose him. Why was he spying about the village of
the Arapahoes?”
“For no harm, I tell you. Has Dove-eye forgotten Silverspur?”
The girl started at this name. The blood mounted to her face in an
instant, lighting up the olive of her complexion with a rich glow, and
a fierce light came into her large eyes. Then her long eyelashes fell,
and a mournful expression overspread her countenance.
“Dove-eye has not forgotten Silverspur,” she replied. “Ask the Crows,
and let them tell you whether he is forgotten. Their women are still
mourning for the warriors who have fallen to avenge the death of
Silverspur. Was Burnt Face his friend?”
“I was his friend, and still am. What bird has been whispering lies to
Dove-eye? If Silverspur is dead, the Crows know nothing of it.”
The light again came into the girl’s eyes; the color again mounted to
her cheeks, and wild joy and hope showed themselves in every feature.
“The Big Medicine of the Arapahoes told me that he was dead,” she
replied. “He said that Silverspur was killed by the Crows, and that he
saw him slain.”
“The Big Medicine lied, or his eyes were blinded. If Silverspur is
dead, he was not killed by the Crows. If he is dead, he must have died
within two suns, as the sun has not risen twice since I saw him.”
“Does Burnt Face speak truly, or does he wish to make the heart of
Dove-eye soft, that she may take pity on him?”
“Burnt Face has spoken truly. Does Dove-eye remember, when she fought
with her warriors against the Crows on the Sweetwater, when the Crows
at last charged upon their enemies, and the Arapahoes were compelled to
fly for their lives?”
“Dove-eye has not forgotten. Burnt Face was there.”
“Does she remember, when the fighting was over, and she was riding away
alone, that she met a white man, and threw her battle-ax at him as she
rode past him?”
“I killed him. My battle-ax struck him on the head, and knocked him
from his horse.”
“You did not kill him. He had been very sick, and he was so weak that
he fell from his horse. That white man was Silverspur.”
“Yes! Burnt Face speaks truly. I know, now, that it was Silverspur; but
he was greatly changed. Is it not two suns since you saw him? He must,
then, be not far from here. Where is he?”
Old Blaze described the spot at which he had left his friend, and
Dove-eye, her eyes full of joy and eagerness, was about to hasten from
him, when he detained her.
“Will not Dove-eye wait a moment?” he asked. “A few minutes will not
lose Silverspur. I am a prisoner, and the warriors will kill me, unless
I can escape from them.”
“Let Burnt Face wait. He has brought me good news, and I will not
forget him. If the news is true, he need not fear. I must first see
Silverspur.”
She sped away, lightly and gracefully as a gazelle, and the hunter
gazed after her with admiring eyes.
“I kin trust that gal, sartin,” said Old Blaze, relapsing into his
vernacular. “Anyhow, she will see Silverspur, and I kin allers bet on
_him_. Ef he and that gal put thar wits together, my skulp is safe. I
wish that red dog of a white man would come along, so’s I could give
him a squar’ and independent talkin’-to.”
But Silas Wormley was engaged in looking after Dove-eye. He had watched
her, from the shadow of a lodge, as she conversed with the captive, and
he intended to follow her when she stepped away so lightly and gayly.
Dove-eye, eager as she was to greet Silverspur, whom she had so long
believed to be dead, had not laid aside the caution which had become a
part of her nature. Every now and then she cast stealthy glances behind
and about her, to see if her movements were observed, and she soon
perceived the espionage of the trader.
It was easy enough to baffle _him_, she thought. Her route lay toward
the west, among hills and ravines. She turned toward the south, passed
over the brow of a hill in full sight of the trader, and then concealed
herself among some bushes in a ravine. In a few moments he came up, and
passed her hastily. When she had got him fairly on the wrong track, she
emerged from her concealment, and shaped her course toward the west,
moving silently and swiftly.
Soon she was in the mountains, before the lodge at the foot of the
cliff. She paused a moment; but that was not the place she sought.
She went on, up the same ravine that she had climbed with the old
medicine-man at the time of the attack by the Crows. She reached the
plateau where they had concealed themselves, and there, as she stopped
a moment to breathe, from the same clump of cedars in which she had
once hid, a man started up before her.
It was Silverspur. She knew him now, although he had changed so much
since she saved his life and nursed him while he lay wounded and
helpless. She joyfully ran forward to meet him, and he advanced no less
eagerly.
“Is this really you, Dove-eye?” he asked, speaking in the Dacotah
dialect. “I have been searching for you. I have traveled far to find
you. How did you happen to come to this place?”
“I came to meet you. I was told that you were here, and I hastened to
see you.”
“Who told you?”
“Your friend, Burnt Face.”
“You have seen him, then. Where is he?”
“At the village. He is a prisoner.”
Silverspur was astonished. Old Blaze a prisoner! He would have
anticipated any thing sooner than the capture of the veteran hunter,
and this misfortune troubled him greatly.
“The Arapahoes will kill him,” he said. “Something must be done. I must
save him, if possible, whatever happens.”
“He asked me to help him; but I told him that I must first see you.
There is time enough to think about him.”
“And you hastened to meet me? Had you not forgotten me?”
“Dove-eye had not forgotten. They told me that you were dead--that the
Crows had killed you. I vowed to avenge your death upon the Crows, and
for that purpose I became a warrior.”
“The Crows are my friends. They would never harm me. I was with them at
the Sweetwater, when they fought the Arapahoes, and I saw you there.”
“Burnt Face told me of that,” replied the girl, with a blush. “I threw
my battle-ax at you; but I did not know you. I am very sorry.”
“It is strange that you were permitted to become a warrior. How did
that happen?”
“It is a long story. Do you wish me to tell you all?”
As Silverspur did wish her to tell all, he made her sit by his side,
and she related her adventures since they had parted at the lodge in
the cliff. She told them briefly and modestly; but there was in them so
much that was wonderful and peculiar, so much strength and quickness of
mind, so much energy, and so much heroism, that the young man gazed at
her in admiration, and could not help interrupting her, now and then,
to express his opinion of her achievements.
When she had finished, he sat in silence a few moments, evidently in
a “brown study.” Then he looked up, and spoke quickly, as a thought
occurred to him.
“You are still in danger,” he said; “but I think I see a way out of
this trouble. You have planned excellently to turn the tables on that
trader, and I have no doubt that you will succeed in blinding the eyes
of the old men, if he reports what he has discovered; but there is
another difficulty. The time is near that you had set for the return of
the Big Medicine, and it is not to be supposed that they will submit
to any further delay. What did you intend to do, when they should call
upon you, a second time, to produce him?”
“I hoped that I would be killed in battle before that time should
arrive. Then I thought of flight; but I would have been safe nowhere,
and I might as well die here as elsewhere. I expected to die; but the
Great Spirit sent you to me, and now I wish to live.”
“You might fly with me, and we might escape together, if my friend was
free. I can not leave him in danger, and I hardly know what I should
do without him. I have a plan by which he can be saved, I believe, and
then we will have no more trouble.”
“The Great Spirit has surely sent you. What is your plan?”
“What is to prevent us from bringing back the Big Medicine?”
“He is dead.”
“We can bring him to life.”
“Is the white man’s medicine so strong? I would be afraid, if he should
return from the spirit-land, that he would tell the warriors how I had
deceived them, and then they would be more angry than ever.”
“I do not say that I can really bring him back to life. _I_ will be the
Big Medicine.”
The girl uttered an exclamation of joy, as her quick wit caught
Silverspur’s meaning.
“But he was so old and ugly,” she said, “and you are young and--”
“Handsome, you mean, of course. I can stain my face, and can put on
gray hair and beard, and I need not let the warriors come near me, and
it will be but for a little while. You can tell me what to say--they
will be ready to believe almost any thing--and we can be far from here
before they will have a chance to discover how they have been cheated.”
Dove-eye made many objections to this plan, fearing that it would
endanger the life of Silverspur; but he overruled them all, and
they went together to the lodge at the foot of the cliff, to arrange
the details. She confided in Jose, who promised secrecy and all the
assistance that he could render.
It was agreed that Silverspur should take up his abode, for the
present, in the cavern in which he had been concealed by Dove-eye when
he was wounded. He surveyed the rude apartment with a look of pleasure.
“I have never forgotten this place,” he said. “It has always been dear
to me, and I am glad to return to it.”
“And Dove-eye is happy,” replied the girl, blushing as she busied
herself in arranging the scanty furniture.
Having given Silverspur her parting directions, and cautioned him not
to leave the cavern, she returned to the village.