That was one of the reasons she had refused to leave the island for an undesignated destination without notifying any one—the other was Louis Hammond. Louis Hammond would surely come to-day—when she so sorely needed him. Instinctively her eyes searched the lakeshore trail in search of a youthful, buoyant figure.
II
Josephine Stone was startled from her reverie by the parting of the shrubbery down by the island shore. Five tall, powerful-looking Indians sprang into view.
In the lead was a ghastly figure—the Indian Medicine Man who had so startled her in the trail yesterday.
A face more sinister than his would be difficult to conceive. Dark, almost to the blackness of an African, his features bespoke evil cunning and a sense of power that was made the more disconcerting by the livid red gashes on the cheek-bones and by the brilliant jet-black eyes around which the whites showed garishly. Straight, lank black hair fell to his shoulders, where row upon row of glistening white wolves’ teeth were arrayed. He wore no head adornment save a single eagle’s feather stuck in a band of purple at the back of his head.
“Henry!” Josephine Stone called to her Indian man-of-all-work. The latter and his sister came out of the house and took places by her side, but she could see they were quaking with fear.
The quintette from the woods came to an abrupt halt before them. For the moment Josephine Stone felt reassured on noting they carried no arms. The weird figure in the foreground bowed low, while his four companions stood motionless as carved statues.
“Wonderful white lady,” he addressed her in low, guttural tones whose enunciation was perfect. “Ogima Bush, the Medicine Man, brings this message: It is the will of Ogima’s master that the white lady go from here.”
In her trepidation and bewilderment, Josephine Stone could scarcely find words to reply. “I do not understand,” she faltered. “Am I—ordered off this island?”
The Medicine Man bowed again. “It is the will of Ogima’s master,” he repeated. “The white lady is to go from here with Ogima. No harm will come to her.”