"Is it possible!" cried the chapfallen doctor, without noticing the somewhat rough manner in which the hunter shook him.
"You were charged with a message of life and death, fool that you are! Now, what is to be done? Perhaps it is too late!"
"Oh! do not say so," said the savant, in great agitation, "I should die with despair if it were so."
The poor man burst into tears, and gave unequivocal proofs of the greatest grief.
Black Elk was obliged to console him.
"Come, come, courage, my good sir!" he said, softening a little. "What the devil, perhaps all is not lost?"
"Oh! if I were the cause of such a misfortune, I should never survive it!"
"Well, what is done, is done; we must act accordingly," said the trapper philosophically. "I will think how they are to be assisted. Thanks be to God, I am not so much alone as might be supposed—I hope within two hours to have got together thirty of the best rifles in the prairies."
"You will save them, will you not?"
"At least, I will do all that can be done, and, if it please God, I shall succeed."