“Handsome, you mean, of course. I can stain my face, and can put on gray hair and beard, and I need not let the warriors come near me, and it will be but for a little while. You can tell me what to say—they will be ready to believe almost any thing—and we can be far from here before they will have a chance to discover how they have been cheated.”
Dove-eye made many objections to this plan, fearing that it would endanger the life of Silverspur; but he overruled them all, and they went together to the lodge at the foot of the cliff, to arrange the details. She confided in Jose, who promised secrecy and all the assistance that he could render.
It was agreed that Silverspur should take up his abode, for the present, in the cavern in which he had been concealed by Dove-eye when he was wounded. He surveyed the rude apartment with a look of pleasure.
“I have never forgotten this place,” he said. “It has always been dear to me, and I am glad to return to it.”
“And Dove-eye is happy,” replied the girl, blushing as she busied herself in arranging the scanty furniture.
Having given Silverspur her parting directions, and cautioned him not to leave the cavern, she returned to the village.
CHAPTER IX.
DOVE-EYE DENOUNCED.
Silas Wormley was just about to denounce Dove-eye to the old men of the tribe, when he was interrupted by the uproar that preceded the capture of Old Blaze, and which at once emptied the council-house. As it was “bad medicine” to return to the lodge that day, the meeting was postponed until the next morning, when the trader was called before the elders, and requested to proceed with his important communication.
By this time Wormley had “repented him of his wrath.” He was sorry that he had been so hasty, and wished that he had given Dove-eye another chance, before going so far as to denounce her. But it was too late to retrieve. The Indians were eager to hear the expected communication, and no excuse would avail.