“Shall we go?” asked Walter. “Do you think it is safe?”
“I do not know if it is safe,” was the thoughtful reply, “but I must go I think. If I do not he will think I am afraid. And I want to discover if there really is a white trader there, and talk with him. He may be our one chance of safety. Sometimes the traders have great influence. Yes, I must go.”
Louis indicated his willingness to accompany the Indians, but the elder man was still unsatisfied. He kept pointing at Walter.
“I am going too, Louis,” the latter decided. He glanced around the little circle. “Do you suppose the others will be all right while we are away?”
“There is risk to all of us, all the time, whatever we do,” Louis returned gravely. “It is not good for our party to be separated. Yet I do not think they try to separate us. Why should they, when we are so few, and they are so many? No, I think that white trader has sent for us, and we had best go.” He turned to Neil and Raoul. “Keep close watch,” he warned, “and you, Raoul, make a big pile of dry grass and wood. If anything happens to alarm you, light it, and we shall see the flames, and come at once.”
“If we can,” Walter added to himself. He did not voice his doubt. He knew they must take the risk; he saw that quite clearly.
There was a frightened look in Elise’s eyes. She laid her hand on Walter’s arm. “Don’t go,” she whispered.
“I must, little sister. I can’t let Louis go alone. We will be back soon.”
Mrs. Brabant’s face had turned pale, but she made no protest. As for Mr. Perier, the news that there was a white man with the Indians had gone far to reassure him of their friendliness and good intentions.
The three braves had come unarmed, so courtesy required that Louis and Walter should not take their guns, reluctant though they were to leave them behind. The Indians were on foot, and all went back in the same manner. The long twilight was deepening, as the five took their silent way towards the firelit group of tipis that had sprung up from the prairie like some strange mushroom growth. The air was hot, still, and oppressive. Dark clouds lay low on the western and southern horizon.