“How, neighbors and friends,” called Ree, as the noise of the dogs brought the Indians, Gentle Maiden among the rest, from the cabins, and stepping up to the daughter of Captain Pipe, he said:
“Gentle Maiden, I shot a young bear near by, and I have brought some fresh meat for you and your people, if you care for it; and if you do not, the dogs may be glad of it.”
With a graceful courtesy, which may have been all her own, or taught her, more likely, by the Moravian missionaries, of whom, as a child, she had learned to speak English, the Indian girl accepted the gift, saying most earnestly, as the other Indians, half clad, wrapped in skins and worn blankets, crowded near:
“Truly the Great Spirit has sent you—the Great Spirit of the Red Children of the forests, or the God of the Palefaces—has sent you and this food. For days and nights—more than on the fingers of both my hands could be told—my father’s people have had no meat—only the flesh of the dogs we killed.”
Ree would have interrupted the girl to tell his regret that he and John had not known their needs to have helped them before, but she would not permit it; for Gentle Maiden, now really a young woman, though girlish in appearance in her short skirt and embroidered leggins, continued:
“Very little corn have we left, and of beans none; and no powder here for the one gun left with us by my father’s warriors. Yet come, rest, and eat of what we have and our people shall prepare more.”
Giving the bear meat to some squaws to be quickly cooked, Gentle Maiden and her mother led the way to the cabin of Captain Pipe, somewhat better than the others, though poor enough and now half filled with smoke from the fire built in the center of the earthen floor, beneath a hole in the roof.
“I had hoped to find Chief Hopocon (Captain Pipe) back from his fighting expedition,” said Ree, pretending to eat of the scanty quantity of parched corn placed before him, for hospitality’s sake, a courtesy the Indians never forgot.
“No, the fighting may not be over. There may be another great battle,” said the girl.
“Another battle?” the boy ejaculated. “Has there been one, then?”