"The people of the Stone have their laws," replied the chief, "which are thongs of leather, to bind each sachem, and each totem, and each warrior; they were whispered into the rolls of wampum, which is in the hands of the great medicine man, or priest, as you would call him, and the voice of the Black Eagle, though it be strong in war, is as the song of the bobolink when compared to the voice of the laws."
Short as this conversation may seem when written down, it had occupied several minutes, for the Indian had made long pauses, and Edith, willing to humor him by adopting the custom of his people, had followed his example. His last reply was hardly given when Lord H---- returned, carrying a dry and somewhat hard loaf and a jug of clear cold water.
"I have not been very successful, for the people have evidently abandoned the place, and all their cupboards but one are locked up. In that, however, I found this loaf."
"They are squirrels, who fly along the boughs at the sound of danger, and leave their stores hidden," said the Black Eagle; "but dip the bread in water, my daughter; it will give you strength by the way."
Lord H---- laid the loaf down upon the table and hurried out of the room again; but Edith had little opportunity of questioning her dusky companion further before the young nobleman returned. He was absent hardly two minutes, and when he came back he led his horse behind him, somewhat differently accoutred from the preceding day. The demi-pique was now covered with a pillow, firmly strapped on with some leathern thongs, which he had found in the house, thus forming it into a sort of pad; and the two stirrups brought to one side, stretched as far apart as possible, and somewhat shortened, were kept extended by a piece of plank passed through the irons, and firmly attached, thus forming a complete rest for the feet of anyone sitting sidewise on the horse. Lord H---- had done many a thing in life on which he might reasonably pride himself. He had resisted temptations to which most men would have yielded; he had done many a gallant and noble deed; he had displayed great powers of mind and high qualities of heart in terrible emergencies and moments of great difficulty; but it may be questioned whether he had looked so complacently on any act of his whole life as on the rapid and successful alteration of his own inconvenient saddle into a comfortable lady's pad; and when he brought out Edith to the door, and she saw how he had been engaged, she could not help rewarding him with a beaming smile, in which amusement had a less share than gratitude. Even over the dark countenance of the Indian, trained to stoical apathy, something flitted not unlike a smile, also. The young nobleman, lifting his fair charge in his arms, seated her lightly on the horse's back, adjusted the rest for her feet with care, and then took the bridle to lead her on the way.
The Indian chief, without a word, walked on before, at a pace with which the horse's swiftest walk could scarcely keep up, and crossing the cleared ground around the house, they were soon once more beneath the branches of the forest. More than once the Black Eagle had to pause and lean upon his rifle, waiting for his two companions; but doubtless it was the difficulties of the narrow path, never made for horse's hoofs, and not the desire of prolonging conversation, nor the pleasure of gazing up the while into a pair of as beautiful eyes as ever shone upon mortal man, or into a face which might have looked out of heaven and not have shamed the sky, that retarded the young nobleman on his way.
Two miles were at length accomplished, and then they came into the solitary high road again, which led within a short distance of Mr. Prevost's cottage. During the whole journey the Indian chief had not uttered a word; but as soon as he had issued forth from the narrow path into the more open road he paused and waited till Edith came up; then, pointing with his hand, he said: "Thou knowest the way, my daughter; thou hast no more need of me. The Black Eagle must wing his way back to his own rock."
"But shall we be safe?" asked Edith.
"As in the happy hunting grounds," replied the chief; and then, turning away, he retraced the trail by which they had come.
Their pace was not much quicker than it had been in the more difficult path. The seal seemed to be taken away from Lord H---'s lips. He felt that Edith was safe, nearer home, no longer left, completely left, to his mercy and his delicacy, and his words were tender and full of strong affection; but she laid her hand gently on his as it rested on the peak of the saddle, and with a face glowing as if the leaves of autumn maples had cast a reflection from their crimson hues upon it, she said: "Oh, not now--not now--spare me a little still."