"Ah, señora," replied Rupert, "you need not fear to approach the great God in the name of His dear Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He bids us do so, and tells us that He is the hearer and answerer of prayers."
He paused, closed his eyes, and lifted up his heart in silent supplication for her and for himself.
She thought he slept, and sat very quietly, busy with her embroidery and waiting for him to wake again.
At length he opened his eyes, and asked her if she knew what fate the Indians had reserved for him.
She told him a council had been held while he lay unconscious from his wounds; that there was a heated discussion, some of the braves being set upon putting him to a torturing death, while others would have held him for ransom; but finally Thunder-Cloud, whose shot had brought him to the ground, had claimed him as his peculiar property, and declared his intention to adopt him as his son. "So," she concluded, "you, señor, need have no fear of being slain by any of the tribe, unless caught in an attempt to escape."
"God be praised!" he ejaculated, with clasped hands and uplifted eyes, "for life is sweet so long as there is a possibility of future restoration to home and loved ones."
"You will attempt to escape?" she asked, with a look of apprehension; "it will be very dangerous, señor, for they are terribly fierce—these Apaches."
He looked at her with a faint smile. "I am far too weak to think of it now, but one day, when I have recovered my health and strength, I may find an opportunity."
"And I shall be left alone with the savages as before," she said, with a touchingly mournful cadence in her exquisite voice.