13. O Friend-Betrayer at the Big Horn’s mouth, etc.
Note how Hugh’s imagination rushes on to the killing of Jamie.
17. From where a cloud of startled blackbirds rose
What startles the blackbirds?
Note on this page, and the next, various hints of the coming of the Indians and how important the matter was to the starving watcher from the bluff.
20. Embroiled the parliament of feathered shrews?
What are the “feathered shrews”?
22. Flackering strepent; now a sooty shower, etc.
“Flackering strepent”—fluttering and noisy, a fitting description of the startled flock; onomatopœia.
The entire picture of the blackbirds is notable. They are a “boiling cloud,” “a sooty shower,” with big flakes and driven by a squall, they are “cold black fire.” All these terms are startling but exact.