“No hug so tight,” answered the Tuscarora woman. “Pale-face woman all cry, or all laugh. Let June fasten door.”
Mabel became more rational, and in a few minutes the two were again in the upper room, seated as before, hand in hand, all feeling of distrust between them being banished.
“Now tell me, June,” Mabel commenced as soon as she had given and received one warm embrace, “have you seen or heard aught of my poor uncle?”
“Don't know. No one see him; no one hear him; no one know anyt'ing. Saltwater run into river, I t'ink, for I no find him. Quartermaster gone too. I look, and look, and look; but no see' em, one, t'other, nowhere.”
“Blessed be God! They must have escaped, though the means are not known to us. I thought I saw a Frenchman on the island, June.”
“Yes: French captain come, but he go away too. Plenty of Indian on island.”
“Oh, June, June, are there no means to prevent my beloved father from falling into the hands of his enemies?”
“Don't know; t'ink dat warriors wait in ambush, and Yengeese must lose scalp.”
“Surely, surely, June, you, who have done so much for the daughter, will not refuse to help the father?”
“Don't know fader, don't love fader. June help her own people, help Arrowhead—husband love scalp.”