“Bear-Killer will not slay him!” said a deep voice, close at his side; and a heavy hand was laid on his arm, so suddenly and with such force that the tomahawk fell from his grasp and half buried itself among the leaves at his feet.
Bear-Killer turned with a sharp grunt of rage and surprise. His mutilated face expressed nothing, but his small, baleful eyes scintillated like those of a cowed and baffled wolf.
The hand on his arm tightened its hold, and the deep, stern voice repeated authoritatively:
“Bear-Killer will not slay him!”
The speaker was an Indian, tall and massive in build, and manifestly the superior of Bear-Killer in strength.
His dress and equipments indicated him to be a chief. Bear Killer seemed to recognize his superiority, either of rank or strength, or both.
It was Ku-nan-gu-no-nah, who had but just now made his escape from the cabin of Emmett Darke, and the terrible power which he believed Vinnie possessed; and he was making his way back through the forest toward the Indian village, when he discovered Bear-Killer in the act of consummating his dreadful vengeance on the unconscious white man.
Ku-nan-gu-no-nah recognized this white man at a glance.
He knew it was Clancy Vere.
And he had particular reasons for not wishing Bear-Killer to become his slayer.