Roy noted the circumstance with displeasure, but suppressed his inclination to draw Broom’s attention to it, and drank the toast with as much grace as he could assume. Then, unceremoniously, he whipped the bottle off the table.
No whit abashed, the loquacious Broom told a number of pithy stories, which he related in his inimitable manner. These and other merry quips kept Hopkins in a constant fit of laughter, in which Roy, despite his annoyance, was at length forced to join.
Suddenly a gust of wind struck the house, shaking it to its foundations. The trader and the dog-driver glanced simultaneously at the window, then at each other with an accompanying nod, as if to say that their prognostications of a blow were proving correct.
At once Roy thought of Kasba, for he had been told that she had gone for meat. Had she returned? Had anyone seen her pass the house? Where was her father, Delgezie?
Receiving no answer to his questions from Broom or Hopkins, neither of whom knew the whereabouts of the girl or her father, Roy called in Sahanderry and again put the questions. The Indian entered with a face that clearly betrayed the anxiety he was feeling, but he could give no satisfactory information. He was almost certain Kasba had not returned, but as it was possible that she might have passed while they were at dinner he was unable to speak positively. He then spoke of his own doubts and fears regarding the girl’s safety.
But the trader checked these voluble premonitions by commanding Sahanderry to go to Delgezie’s hut and find out the truth of the matter, while he struggled into his “hairy coat.”
Without waiting for further directions the Indian rushed from the room. Fears for Kasba’s safety animated his movements. But he was stopped short in his impetuous haste before he had crossed the kitchen, the door being suddenly thrown open by Delgezie himself, who hastily entered, pulling the door to after him.
Delgezie’s entrance was the signal for the greatly perturbed Sahanderry to begin a string of confusing questions interlarded with much advice and dire prophecies of evil, but Roy came to the rescue of the distracted old man by peremptorily ordering the young Indian to hold his tongue, and then by a few direct questions the trader elicited the fact that the girl and boy left the Fort at seven o’clock that morning and had not yet returned.
“Seven o’clock! They had left at seven o’clock! Then they should have been back long ago! It is now two! What can have happened to them?” The trader spoke sharply and with evident anxiety.
In a bewildered fashion the old Indian stood gazing at the speaker, leaning a little forward as if to better read the expression on Roy’s face. He had the most implicit faith in the trader’s superior judgment, and with the simplicity of a child waited to be told what he was to do. His features worked in a nervous, agitated manner and a pipe that he had been unconsciously holding fell from his hand to the floor. Suddenly he seemed to be aware of Roy’s perturbed manner, and made for the door, but at once Roy called after him, demanding what he was about to do.