And now a wail of lamentation echoed through the cavern, as the savages gathered around the lifeless form of their young chief Allacotah. Victory had been dearly bought by them. Besides their chief, a dozen of the best warriors lay dead, while not one of their enemies had fallen. Though it would have been an easy matter to have tomahawked the captives, they dare not, for the great chief, Black Bear, had ordered that all captives be taken and brought to the village alive and unharmed.
Litters were constructed of blankets, and the dead and wounded placed upon them to be taken back to the village.
The prisoners’ feet were unbound and they permitted to stand; and then with their hands bound at their backs, they were marched out the cavern.
The first glimmer of approaching day was beginning to streak the eastern sky.
In a few minutes the dead had been brought from the cavern, and then the party filed away through the forest in the direction of the Indian village.
CHAPTER XX.
RAINBOLT MEETS WITH AN ACCIDENT.
Rainbolt halted before the mysterious Solomon Strange, a smile resting upon his features, a feeling of strange curiosity upon his mind.
“Ho! ho!” laughed Strange, “so we have met again, my lord Oliver—I mean, Thunderbolt.”
“So it seems, though you were the last person I had expected to meet, Mr. Strange,” replied the ranger.