"I think so too. Loyal Heart will accompany the Chief to the callis of the nation?"
"It is my intention to start on my return tomorrow; if my brother can wait till then, we will start together."
"I will wait."
"Good; tomorrow at daybreak we will follow the return trail in company."
The council was over, yet Tranquil tried vainly to explain to himself how it was that Black-deer, whom he had left among the Snake Pawnees, could now be an influential Chief of the Comanche nation; and the connection between Loyal Heart and the Chief perplexed him not a bit less. All these ideas troubled the hunter's head, and he promised himself on the first opportunity to ask Black-deer for the history of his life since their separation.
As soon as Lanzi returned with the horses, the hunters and Carmela sat down to breakfast, waited on by Singing-bird, who performed her duties with extreme grace.
CHAPTER VIII.
QUONIAM'S RETURN.
The meal did not take long; each of the guests, busied with secret thoughts, ate quietly and silently. Tranquil, though he did not dare ask any questions of Black-deer or Loyal Heart, for all that, burned to learn by what concourse of extraordinary events these two men, who had started from diametrically opposite points, had eventually grown into such close intimacy.