"Spider has met them: they are hunting the buffalo on the Gila."
"Was their great chief Unicorn with them?"
"Unicorn was with his warriors."
"Good! My brother has the eye of a tiger-cat: nothing escapes him. Did he meet the great paleface hunter?"
"Spider smoked the calumet with Koutonepi and several warriors, friends of the pale hunter, assembled round his fire."
"Did my brother speak with Koutonepi?" the priest asked.
"Yes, Koutonepi is glad at the return of the father of prayer, whom he did not hope to see again. When the walkon has sung for the second time, Koutonepi will be near my father with his comrades."
"My brother is a wise and skillful warrior: I thank him for the way in which he has carried out the mission with which he was entrusted, a mission which no other warrior would have performed with so much prudence and tact."
At this well-dressed compliment, a smile of joy and pride played round the Indian's lips, who withdrew after respectfully kissing the missionary's hand. Father Seraphin then turned to Madame Guillois, who anxiously awaited the result of this conversation, trying to read in the priest's looks what she had to hope or fear. He took her hand, pressed it gently, and said to her with that sympathetic accent which he possessed in the highest degree—
"Your son is coming, you will soon see him: he will be here this night, within two hours at the most."