Then, seeing the pained look upon Douglas’s face:
“Tut-tut, my boy! Don’t grieve over my fate. I tell you it is best that I should die so. But I don’t care to talk of it; it’s just a little unwelcome to contemplate.”
Here he paused and smiled feebly. A lump rose in Ross’s throat; he could say nothing in reply. Bradford asked quickly:
“Where have you been since you escaped from the village upon the Mississinewa?”
Douglas found his voice, and told his companion of his wanderings and adventures. When the younger man had finally finished, the older remarked:
“It was well that La Violette helped you to escape; otherwise, the treacherous Indians would have killed you. When I returned to the village and found you gone, I was furious; but La Violette explained the situation to me—and I was satisfied. Immediately, I took the dear girl with me and went to Canada. Then I instituted search for you. I sent a messenger to your old home at Franklinton——”
“Why were you so anxious to find me, Bradford?” Ross could not refrain from asking.
“Don’t interrupt me,” the other cried irritably. “I have much to tell you. I mean to explain all, but I must do it in my own way. As I said, I hunted for you far and near; but I couldn’t locate you. My health was failing. I realized that I was affected with a fatal malady, and I worried night and day—I feared I was to die without again seeing you. Finally my business led me to this vicinity. I came not as a spy”—the color mantled his pale cheeks, and the puckered scar flamed scarlet—“but as a British commissary to look after the needs of Tecumseh’s warriors. Yesterday I was captured; and here I am—doomed to an ignominious death. But it doesn’t matter; I’ve found you—I can carry out my plans ere I die.”