“Why then have you torn me from home and friends?”
“You are the daughter of General Treveling?”
“Yes.”
“I hate your father. Through you I strike at him. You are dearer to him than even life itself. A blow dealt at you also wounds him. That is the reason why I have lured you from the settlement.” Fierce was the tone in which Girty uttered the words, and a demon look of triumph gleamed in his dark eyes.
Virginia listened in wonder. She had often heard her father speak of the renegade, but always as a stranger.
“How has my father ever injured you?” she asked.
“How?” demanded Girty, in rising wrath. “The cut of his lash has scarred my back. It happened long years ago, but the memory is as fresh in my brain as though it were but yesterday. I swore a bitter oath of vengeance. Years have come and gone, but at last I strike, and the blow must reach him through you.”
“This is a manly vengeance!” exclaimed Virginia, while her lip curled in scorn. “If my father has wronged you, why not seek him? Why select a helpless woman as your victim? Is it because you are too cowardly to face my father?”
“Taunt on; you will repent these words in scalding tears ere long,” said Girty, calmly.
“They speak truth in the settlement when they say that you are like the wolf, both cruel and cowardly.”