"I flee, and abandon the lady into the power of disreputable men? No such coward, sir!"
"Coward, when I want you to run the double gauntlet of Indians and desperadoes! I don't see what she could despise you for. Hark! They come on both sides—stealthily, but I hear them! The young woman cannot accompany me where I must lead—are we all to be uselessly crumpled up, or all to be saved?"
"Go!" said Ulla; "Who will save me if you are slain?" in a voice meant for Dearborn's ear alone.
But the Cherokee overheard her, and instantly subjoined:
"You're the queen trump! I have offered to help you in this strait because you are white, and your enemies are dogs! But now, on the soul of my fathers! Supposed to be chasing the phantom buffalo in the aerial realm which those mountaintops support—I swear to save you from this hellish crew, or my bones shall swing in the hangman's loop!"
"I hear you, believe you, and I thank you!" exclaimed Miss Maclan, forcing a smile through tears. "But our enemies come! Hasten away, in Heaven's name! Dearborn, we shall meet again under that heaven, or within its golden gates!"
She threw him a kiss with a pretence of playfulness, and bounded away in the direction of the plain, crying:
"Do not shoot! It is only a woman! I surrender!"
At the same time Cherokee Bill leaped on the free horse over the tail up, à l'Indienne, and catching the other reins, plunged into the thicket, bidding the Englishman bend low to elude thorns and missiles, and heedless of his reproaches. In their rapid course, it seemed to the latter that he saw groups and pairs of grappling men plying clubs and knives, but no reports of firearms cracked the icicles off the boughs. Each contesting party showed a respectful dislike to bringing on a regular engagement.
"What's your horse good for still?" queried the half-breed in a whisper.