"If it is in my power I instantly will. Pray, do not hesitate to ask me anything you choose."
"Well, den, gits ready for it. I would shust like to know if dere ishn't some feller dat is in love mit you, and you is in love mit, and dat both ish in love mit each oder, eh?"
The crimson that suffused the cheeks and mounted to the very forehead of the captive, answered the question of Hans Vanderbum more plainly than words. Still, he insisted upon a verbal reply.
"There is no need of concealing the truth from you," she answered. "I have a dear young friend—"
"Who ish he?"
"Lieutenant Canfield, who is in service with my father," she replied.
"Oh, den he don't know notting about it?"
"I am not sure of that. Oonomoo has acted as a runner or bearer of messages between many of the men in the American army and their families, upon the frontier, and the last time I saw him he brought me word that Lieutenant Canfield intended shortly to visit me on furlough. He may have arrived immediately after the Indians burnt our place."
"A good t'ing; a good t'ing if he only has."
"Why would it be a good thing?"