She uttered a feeble cry and made a slight momentary effort to resist; but Dick’s act, though promptly, was, nevertheless, tenderly done, and the big hand that stroked her white head was so evidently that of a friend, that the poor creature resigned herself to the enjoyment of that warmth of which she stood so much in need. Meanwhile Dick, without shifting his position, stretched forth his long arm, collected all the wood within reach, and placed it on the fire.
After a few minutes the old woman raised her head, and looking earnestly in Dick’s face with her bleared and almost sightless eyes, said in the Indian language, with which her companion was well acquainted—
“My son, have you come back to me?”
A gush of indignant feeling had again to be violently stifled ere Dick could answer in moderate tones—
“No, mother, he’s not come back; but I’ll be a son to ye. See, sit up an’ warm yerself at the blaze. I’ll get ye some meat and sticks.”
In hot haste, and with desperate activity, for he had no other way of relieving his feelings, Dick cut down a quantity of firewood and placed it close to the hand of the old woman. Then he untied the tin kettle which he always carried at his saddle-bow, and, with a piece of dried venison, concocted a quantity of hot soup in a marvellously short space of time. This done, he sat down beside the old woman and made her partake of it.
“Is it long since they left ye, mother?” he said, after she had swallowed a little.
The old woman pondered for a few seconds. “No,” she said, “not long. Only one sun has gone down since my son left me.” Then she added in a sad tone, “I loved him. He is a great warrior—a brave chief—and he loved me, too. But he had to leave me; I am old and useless. It is my fate.”
“Describe your son to me,” said Dick abruptly. “He is tall and straight as the poplar,” began the old creature, while a look of pride played for a moment on her withered countenance. “His shoulders are broad and his limbs are supple. He can run and leap like the deer, but not so well as he once could. Grey hairs are now mingling with the black—”
“Has he any mark by which I could find him out?” interrupted Dick impatiently.