"Have you been to the secret cave of the Medicine?" she asked, trembling with fear as she heard his answer, and looking upon him with intense admiration as the bravest of the brave.
"I was thar. But I don't think I shall ever have any occasion ter go ergin."
"What did you see?"
"I'll tell yer some time when we ain't got quite so much on hand—some time when every thin' is peace and plenty around us and we've got nothing to do but to talk and make love," and he gave her a sample in advance.
"And now?" she questioned, as she released herself with some difficulty from his over-warm embrace, even though pleased with it.
"Wal, ther plan we have talked about seems ter be ther best, and I reckon we had better cling ter it."
"Then the Burning Cloud will go."
"It am about time."
Released, after another shower of kisses, the Indian girl stole back again into the village and mingled with the crowd that surrounded the Medicine. He was very much engaged in attempting to explain what he knew nothing about, and was boldly asserting that the Evil Spirit had carried off the scout bodily—that he had vanished like smoke and would never be seen again, when a muffled form forced its way to where he was standing, and, throwing aside the blanket that enfolded him, the missing prisoner stood revealed, and said with a half-smile:
"I don't think ther Old Scratch has got hold on me yet, whatever he may do some of these days."