"Ah me!" cried Sister Bab, "what shall I do for my poor Missy? She is a prisoner with the French, not more than a few miles hence; and, what is worse still, the Woodchuck is with her, and all our people said he was going to give himself up to save Massa Walter."
Quietly and deliberately, the Indian seated himself on the ground, and remained silent for a moment or two. He then asked, without the slightest appearance of interest,--
"Where is the daughter of Prevost? Is she at the castle of the Sounding Waters?"
Sister Bab replied, "No;" and, as far as she could describe it, explained to her companion where Edith was, and gave him no very inaccurate notion of the sort of field-work on which she had stumbled the night before. Still not a muscle of the man's face moved; and he merely uttered a sort of hum at this intelligence, sitting for full two minutes without uttering a word.
"What can we do, brother, to save them?" asked Sister Bab at length, "I don't think there's any danger either to Missy or Massa Woodchuck, because the young man in the blue coat seemed very civil; but then, if Massa Woodchuck not get away, your people will kill Massa Walter. For six months will be over very soon."
"Six moons have grown big and small since the Black Eagle spoke," said the Indian gravely; "but we will see whether there be not a trail the prisoners can tread. You must get up quickly, and walk before me, but without noise, to where you left them like a cloud upon the mountain-side."
"It's a long way," said the poor woman; "and my feet are all cut and torn with yesterday's ramble."
"We will give thee moccassins," answered the Indian. "The way is not long, even to the house of the Sounding Waters, if you keep the trail straight. Thou must show me, if thou wouldst save Prevost's daughter. Her fate is a toppling stone upon the edge of a precipice. A wind will blow it down. The French Hurons do not spare women. Come, get thee up; eat, and talk not. I must know this place, and that quickly."
The last words were spoken somewhat sternly; and Sister Bab rose up, and followed to one of the little groups of Indians, where she seated herself again, and ate some cakes of maize and dried deer's-flesh, while the chief who had been speaking with her held a consultation with several of the other warriors. Not much time was allowed her for her meal, for in less than five minutes she was called upon to lead the way; and, followed by a party of five Indians, she proceeded for a mile or two, till they reached a spot where the trail divided into two. She was about to take the left-hand path, knowing that it was the one which she had followed on the preceding night; but the chief commanded her in a low voice to turn her steps upon the other, adding, "We shall come upon thy foot-prints again speedily."
So indeed it proved, for she had wandered during the night far from the direct course; and after walking on for some ten minutes, they cut into the former path again, where, to Indian eyes, the traces of a negro foot were very apparent.