“He asked me to help him; but I told him that I must first see you. There is time enough to think about him.”
“And you hastened to meet me? Had you not forgotten me?”
“Dove-eye had not forgotten. They told me that you were dead—that the Crows had killed you. I vowed to avenge your death upon the Crows, and for that purpose I became a warrior.”
“The Crows are my friends. They would never harm me. I was with them at the Sweetwater, when they fought the Arapahoes, and I saw you there.”
“Burnt Face told me of that,” replied the girl, with a blush. “I threw my battle-ax at you; but I did not know you. I am very sorry.”
“It is strange that you were permitted to become a warrior. How did that happen?”
“It is a long story. Do you wish me to tell you all?”
As Silverspur did wish her to tell all, he made her sit by his side, and she related her adventures since they had parted at the lodge in the cliff. She told them briefly and modestly; but there was in them so much that was wonderful and peculiar, so much strength and quickness of mind, so much energy, and so much heroism, that the young man gazed at her in admiration, and could not help interrupting her, now and then, to express his opinion of her achievements.
When she had finished, he sat in silence a few moments, evidently in a “brown study.” Then he looked up, and spoke quickly, as a thought occurred to him.
“You are still in danger,” he said; “but I think I see a way out of this trouble. You have planned excellently to turn the tables on that trader, and I have no doubt that you will succeed in blinding the eyes of the old men, if he reports what he has discovered; but there is another difficulty. The time is near that you had set for the return of the Big Medicine, and it is not to be supposed that they will submit to any further delay. What did you intend to do, when they should call upon you, a second time, to produce him?”