Meanwhile she stood silent, as though waiting for him to question her.
“Let the Indian girl speak,” said the Wizard, at length. “Let the daughter of the chief make known her errand.”
“Then the Wizard of the Rocks knows the Indian maiden. He calls her the daughter of the chief, and he spoke truly,” said the girl, proudly.
“Who has not heard of Minora, the Red Rose of the forest, the daughter of Leaping Panther? Many maidens of the tribe are fair, but none can compare with her. The eyes of Rushing Water have seen it, and his heart is full of her. He has asked her to go to his lodge, and she is willing. Before many moons shall go, the young chief will have carried her thither, and great will be the rejoicing of the tribe.”
A strange look of mingled disappointment and hate came over the face of the Indian girl, as these words fell upon her ear.
The scout could see it from his hiding-place behind the rock, and the Wizard noted it from the spot where he stood. Uncertain as the moonlight was, there was no mistaking it.
“The Wizard of the Rocks has heard the idle tale that has been told by the tribe; or it may be that Leaping Panther has told to his ears his hopes for his child. Moons ago this might have been. Rushing Water did woo the Red Rose and asked her to share his lodge with him. But his heart is turned from her now. His love is given to another, and it is of this that the daughter of the chief has come here to-night.”
“The Red Rose’s words are strange ones. The Wizard of the Rocks can hardly credit the words she utters. Why should Rushing Water break his faith and turn away from her. Where in all the lands of the red-men can he find a mate that can compare with her?”
“Rushing Water seeks not for a mate among his people. His heart is turned away from the maidens of his own race. He has given it into the keeping of a pale-face girl whose lodge stands in the wilderness apart from her people. Minora has seen her often, and she wishes now that her knife had found her heart.”
A look of deadly hate was on the face of the girl, and her hand as she spoke nervously sought the spot where her weapon rested.