He hemmed and hawed a couple of times to give a polite notification of his approach, and after making sure he was alone, stepped within the fur portière.
Prairie travellers are like the Turks in carrying with them such furniture as may transform a cave or a hut into a nest of luxury. Captain Kidd had, therefore, had a delightful snuggery made of the dugout, lined with rugs, blankets and furs, so that cold, damp, and wind were excluded. In the centre of this lair, too, a large silver chafing dish, which might have been stolen from some Central American church treasury, contained clear pine knots, which diffused rather an agreeable and, certainly, a wholesome odour. The low seats were all folding, to be transported readily, but were heaped with furs. A couch of the same valuable material was occupied by a sleeping girl: it was poor Miss Maclan, making up with a prolonged rest for her exhaustion.
In a hammock of grass cloth, hung low, another girl, younger and slighter, with a truly American complexion and contour, gently was swinging. She was well within her teens; a sweet and lofty type of beauty such as Raphael and Murillo painted in their most inspired moments. Her large black eyes seemed to reflect thoughts oftener of heaven than of earth; her transparent skin, fine as satin, showed the blue network of the delicate veins, and offered a violent contrast to black hair in thick and long tresses. Her irresistible charm was heightened by the permanent sadness which covered her lineaments and compelled pity. She smiled faintly on beholding Drudge, and bade him welcome in a tuneful voice as she gave him her little hand.
"But I ought to scold you, friend," she said, "for coming too often. If that hateful man, whose very slave I am, should catch you here, where you could find no excuse to be, ill would befall you."
"That's so, señorita," the youth replied, lightly enough, "but you need not be alarmed about me this time. My only danger is that you will think me intrusive. Captain Kidd has left the camp, and the depth of the snow makes going so slow, that I should not wonder if he made a long stay of it. They have been having another jangle, all in my hearing, for," he went on, with a bitter smile, "they reckon me as an idiot, and go on as if nobody were by."
"Poor Leon!" she sighed, kindly.
"Don't be sorry about that, señorita," he hastened to proceed, "for that's my safeguard. Otherwise I could not watch over you as over a sister. The hour is nigh for me to prove my devotion, methinks."
"I very well know that I can count on Leon with entire trust. Is not our cause, our hope, the same? Misfortune unites us. But I must own that, knowing your implacable hatred for this wretch who holds us in his power, I am often afraid that you will burst out into some imprudence that will destroy you and leave me without a friend in the world. Unless," she added, with a glance at the sleeper, whom their subdued tones did not affect, "this is a new friend whom heaven has accorded me in my distress."
"Rather a spy whom the odious captain thinks to plant in your confidence," returned Leon, with jealousy and doubt. "Coming from the captain, I would not take an angel as a being of light."
"You are wrong there. We have not exchanged many words, Leon, but already we are sisters. Think! She has lost a father lately, and has been hunted by Indians! Poor girl! Her fate is at least as dreadful as mine, and her heart wounds still bleeding. We can trust her, though I have not told her all."