"Am I able to protect you?" he asked.
"Yes," replied Manuela; "and I thank my father, who is as powerful as he is wise."
A smile of gratified pride just formed itself on the lips of the cautious Indian.
"I am powerful to avenge myself on those who deceive me," said he.
"Therefore I shall not attempt to deceive my father."
"Whence comes my white daughter," he asked.
"From the ark of the first man," replied Manuela, looking him steadily in the face.
The amantzin blushed.
"My daughter has the forked tongue of the congouar," he said. "Does she take me for a lizard, that one can entrap like an old woman?"
"Here is a necklace," she replied, offering a rich string of pearls to the Indian; "the Wacondah gave it me for the wise man of the Apaches."