CHAPTER IX.
BEAR-PAW AT HOME.
The party at the cave were enjoying themselves as well as they could under the circumstances.
Kelly was getting anxious about his friend Jehiel, and had resolved that, if he did not make his appearance in the vicinity that day, he would go in search of him next morning.
But he did not know that about that time Jehiel was having his little round with the Pawnee chief—if he had, he would not have rested quite so easily.
Then there was his promise to Gray Eagle, which was only half kept, but which he resolved should be fulfilled to the letter.
Yes, he would have the scalp of the Sioux chief, or die in the attempt to get it.
Nulela, the sister of Red Pine, was indeed happy, and with good reason—the white man whom she had rescued from her brother's power now reciprocated her great love, and she felt herself amply rewarded for the risk she had run and the sacrifice she had made.
Full well she knew that she could not return to her own people, except in disgrace. Such is the moral code of the Sioux—if a maiden of the tribe marries a white man, and he dies, or, as is more generally the case, deserts her, she is thenceforth an outcast.