"The thirteenth is not here," she said; "but she will come, and her heart will not fail."
A dead silence fell over them all after these words were spoken; that sort of stern, heavy, solemn silence which not unfrequently precedes the execution of some strong and terrible resolution. Yet, of those twelve, there were several gay and lively girls, as well as women fallen into the decline of life. Nevertheless, all were as still as death. The volatile lightness of youth, as well as the garrulity of old age, was hushed.
Suddenly, after they had waited about twenty minutes, the blanket was pushed aside, and another figure was added to the number. The voice of Otaitsa whispered--
"He is gone forth armed as if for battle; he has his tomahawk with him; his face was very sad. I saw the Old Cedar cross to the west gate, with others whom I knew in the darkness."
She spoke in eager haste, and gasped for breath; but the old woman took her by the arm, saying,--
"Be calm, be still! Now follow noiselessly. Then bend down as you pass through the maize; though, in this black night, who shall see us?"
She was the first to issue forth; then came Otaitsa; and the others followed one by one, with quick but silent steps, through the wide field of maize that swept round the palisade, and then into the neighbouring forest. Once, when they came near a spot where the polished mirror of the lake collected and cast back every ray of light that remained in the air, they caught sight of a dark file, shadowy and ghost-like as themselves, moving on at a little distance in the same direction. But it was soon lost, and the sight only served to hasten their footsteps.
Passing along a trail which cut across the neck of a little wooded promontory, they suddenly came in sight of the lake again, and, by its side, a low Indian hut, marked out plainly against the surface of the water. When within about thirty yards, the Grey Dove halted, whispered a word or two to those who followed, and then, bending down, crept closer to the lodge.
"Oh, let us hasten," whispered Otaitsa. "They are already there; I hear my father speaking."
"Hush, hush! be still!" ejaculated the old woman in the same tone. "The Black Eagle will do nothing hastily; it is for him a solemn rite. Let me first get near; then follow, and do what I do."