It was settled that they should commence the search together in the morning, and White Shield returned to the village, as he could not be absent from the Arapahoes the first night after his admission to the tribe. Benning concluded to remain where he was, as he could hide there as well as elsewhere, and would be at hand to take up the trail in the morning.
CHAPTER XIII.
LIGHT AHEAD.
Fred Wilder bore his captivity patiently; but this does not prove that he possessed the gift of patience in a very remarkable degree. Dove-eye was with him daily and hourly, and his admiration for the forest maiden had strengthened into a passion. His heart was enthralled in such a sweet captivity, that he took no thought of the captivity of his body.
He had not yet had time or occasion to think how this was to end. He had given himself no uneasiness concerning the fate of White Shield; he had not attempted to form a plan for the release of Flora Robinette and her return to her friends; nor had he even guessed how he should take Dove-eye away from the Arapahoes, if she should be willing to leave them. Love, if not really a selfish feeling, is apt to crowd out other thoughts and feelings.
It is probable that he would not have related to Flora his adventures since she left him at the pass in the mountains, if she had not questioned him upon the subject. When he recounted the conversation which he had overheard between Martin Laurie and Jake Farnsworth, so many emotions were excited in Flora’s bosom, that she at last burst into tears.
“Why need you be so greatly troubled about it?” asked Wilder, when she had wiped away her tears. “Those fellows can’t hurt you.”
“My father’s scalp! To think that it should be made the price of my hand!”
“But you are not obliged to give your hand to the man who happens to recover the scalp.”
“To think that he should be scalped, after having dreaded it all his life, and that his scalp should now be drying in some Blackfoot lodge. It is too horrible!”