“With Mahaska and her warriors,” he replied, with quiet firmness which she well understood.
For an instant it seemed as if she would give way to the storm of passion which this determination aroused; but it was checked by a sudden thought of the danger of such a course to her schemes at that moment of their initiation.
Let him go—she would not oppose it. During this journey the long-sought opportunity to ruin him should be found; in his blind obstinacy he had rushed toward the fate she held in store for him. Her brow cleared; she gathered up her reins with a smile.
“Mahaska is glad that the chief accompanies her; he shall be one of her warriors now.”
He did not return the smile, for he understood perfectly the meaning she intended to convey—that the expedition was entirely under her control, and that, in accompanying it, he went without any authority. Still, he did not falter in his resolve; he must learn the truth of his doubts concerning her. Besides that, his presence might be the means of preventing any trouble between her party and the French; but, in that, he counted upon an influence which he no longer possessed. Mahaska’s guard were bound to her by blind devotion, and her slightest wish would be their law. With them the chief was powerless.
CHAPTER XII.
THE SECRET JOURNEY AND THE HIDDEN TREASURE.
The long-threatened war between the French and English betokened its nearer approach by numerous aggressions upon both sides, and skirmishes became frequent.
At this time Gaston de Laguy had been appointed Governor of Canada. He was a young man to hold an office of such importance, but there had been a variety of peculiar circumstances which led to his appointment, and among those which most induced him to accept the position had been the health of his wife, Adèle. She had been the adopted daughter of Count de Frontenac, the former Governor, and was the playmate of Mahaska in her childhood, as well as the hated rival of her girlish years, for she had won the love of de Laguy whom Mahaska had worshiped with a passion bordering on frenzy in its intensity and reckless disregard of conventional proprieties.
Madame de Laguy’s health had declined after the birth of her first-born, and the physicians decided that a return to Canada and the enjoyment of the free air of the wilderness, in which so much of her early life had been spent, would conduce more than all their skill to restore her to health. So they had returned to Canada, and, though Adèle retained few pleasant memories of the country, she was content to remain there for a time, since she could have the enjoyment of her husband’s society and that of her child, with the prospect of recovering her wasted strength.
The love between de Laguy and his beautiful wife was something truly impressive to witness. They seemed to have grown so closely into each other’s souls that not even death could disturb the ties which bound them.