CHAPTER XXV.
LONE BEAR'S REVELATION.
Without hesitating a moment, the Pawnee made answer:
"Lone Bear speaks with a single tongue; he can not tell where the pale-faced warrior is."
It might have been supposed that the Indian was trying to mislead Deerfoot, but the latter saw his meaning and understood that it was his anxiety to tell the truth which caused him to make answer as he did.
"How many suns ago did the Pawnee part with the pale-face?"
Lone Bear showed he was thinking. His brow wrinkled and he seemed to be looking at something a mile behind the Shawanoe. Then he began counting on his fingers, like a child solving some problem in addition. Seeing that Deerfoot was watching him, he held up his left hand, with his fingers spread apart, and touched them one after the other with the forefinger of the right, until he had checked off four, thereby indicating that four days or suns had elapsed since he had seen Otto Relstaub.
"What tribe bought him from the Pawnees?"
"The pale-face went with no warriors."
"With whom did he go?"