“But you know that it would not be a lie, and you would be cut in pieces. I tell you, Dove-eye, that your life is in my hands. If I expose you, you will surely be killed. If I do not expose you, you must be found out before long. I can save you. I can arrange matters so that this deception will never be discovered. I only ask you to be my wife, and all will be well.”
Instead of answering him, Dove-eye gave him a scornful glance, and turned away and left him.
CHAPTER VI.
CONFESSION UNDER TORTURE.
Silas Wormley was pretty sure of the ground he trod on, but was not absolutely certain. Although the manner of Dove-eye had convinced him that he had guessed the truth, or very near it, he felt that he was not able to prove his assertions. If he should charge her with the deception, before the old men of the Arapahoes, he knew that their own suspicions would not be strong enough to confirm his accusations. They would require plain and undeniable proof to convince them of the falsity of that which they had so long held as a religious belief. If he should fail in furnishing such proof, he would lose the profits of his trading, if not his scalp.
He determined, therefore, to make his suspicion a certainty, and he was not long in forming a plan to accomplish that end.
He knew that Jose, the negro, had long been the servant and constant companion of the old medicine-man, and that he was devoted to Dove-eye. It was not to be supposed that the old man could have died without the knowledge of Jose, and it was probable that he had assisted Dove-eye in disposing of the body. Wormley had seen enough of the negro to know that he could not be bribed from his duty to Dove-eye, and that the secret, if he really knew it, must be forced from him.
To accomplish this, a confederate was necessary, and the trader cast about for a suitable person.
There was an Indian among the Arapahoes, supposed to be a Pawnee Loup by birth, who never joined a war party, and who had no belongings of any kind, not even a gun or a squaw or a lodge. This individual, who was known by the name of Bull-tail, was an ill-conditioned vagabond, the butt of the village, and the general recipient of all scattering kicks and cuffs.
The trader bribed Bull-tail, by the promise of some rum, to assist him in his undertaking, and the two came upon Jose and seized him, one morning when he was away from his lodge.