The adjutant pointed to a large building near the government house, the identical one in which Ruby Roland and her red escort had been quartered the night before. The doors and windows were shut, and there was no appearance that the place was tenanted.
“There they are,” said the boy; “and with them a great Indian princess, who came to the Governor with a message from Tobacco, head chief and Grand Door of the Wabash. I heard all about it last night, when I was spying about the town.”
“How did you get in, adjutant?” asked Helm, curiously. “You’re not a Frenchman, are you?”
“I’m a little of every thing,” said the boy, laughing. “At all events, I can talk French well enough to fool a habitan. And I can fool an Indian, too. What will you bet I don’t send the whole lot, princess and all, out of that building, before your eyes, in twenty minutes?”
“A hundred dollars, even, you don’t,” said Helm, eagerly. He was a skilled Indian-trader and interpreter, himself, and thought he knew all about Indians.
“Done!” said Frank, promptly.
He rode up the steps of the house he had indicated, and knocked loudly at the door with the butt of a pistol.
Immediately it was flung open, and a stately Indian chief, in scarlet blanket, was revealed to the doubting gaze of the officers. As coolly as if doing a commonplace thing, the little adjutant rode straight into the house, the door clanged to, and all was again still and silent.
“Wal,” exclaimed Kenton, rubbing his eyes, “that ’ar little cuss do beat the deuce, I sw’ar. How did he know them Injuns was thar?”
“Why, of course, some of the townspeople told him,” said Helm, in a snappish tone. “Perhaps the Governor let it out to Clark. I suppose these fellows are there on some embassy. I wonder where the colonel is?”