Meantime Ned Britton, who followed close behind us, had leaped down and caught up the terrified girl, and when I looked to see what had become of her I found her seated upon Ned’s steed with our big mate beside her, while he strove to quiet her fears and agitation by smoothing her hair with his rough hand.
Heretofore Iva had been sullen and silent, keeping by the side of the old chief, her grandfather, like a shadow and seeming to lack any interest in her surroundings. But now, as we gathered around her with sympathetic faces, she became animated and frank, thanking us very sweetly and with evident gratitude for coming to her rescue.
“But how did it happen, Iva?” I asked. “Why did you leave Gege-Merak?”
She drew back with a sober look; then, impulsively, she said:
“I will tell you all, for Ketti says you are honest and good, and I know my grandfather to be cruel and wicked.”
The speech astonished us, but the girl continued, quickly:
“Ketti has quarreled with his chief, and he is in disgrace—Ketti, who will be chief after my grandfather dies!”
“Will he, Iva?” I asked. “Is Ketti to be the next chief?”
“Yes; it is his right,” she answered, proudly; “and that is why Gege-Merak hates him. But Ketti is good, and when he is chief I am to marry him.”
“Bravo, Iva!” cried Archie. “Ketti is the best fellow in your gang, to my notion.”