In fact he had done all in his power to impress the Indian that to put himself in the power of Rosenthrall, would be certain death to him.
Thus more than a month passed without bringing to the distracted father any tidings of his missing child.
We may as well remark here, that Rosenthrall had lost his wife many years before, and that Hellena was his only child, so that in losing her he felt that he had lost everything.
The Indians whom he had employed to aid him in his search, informed him that they could learn nothing of his daughter among their people, and some of them who were acquainted with Fire Cloud, told him that the old chief protested he knew nothing of the matter.
Could it be that Flint was playing him false?
He could hardly think that it was Flint himself who had stolen his child, for what motive could he have in doing it?
The more he endeavored to unravel the mystery, the stranger and more mysterious it became.
Notwithstanding the statements to the contrary made by the Indians, Flint persisted in giving it as his belief, that Fire Cloud had carried off the girl and was still holding her a prisoner. He even said that the chief had admitted as much to him. Yet he was sure that if he was allowed to manage the affair in his own way, he should be able to bring the Indian to terms.
It was about this time that the dark suspicions began to be whispered about that Captain Flint was in some way connected with the horrible piracies that had recently been perpetrated on the coast, if he were not in reality the leader of the desperate gang himself, by whom they had been perpetrated.
Those suspicions as we have seen, coming to Flint's own ears, had caused him to plan another project still more horrible than the one he was pursuing, in order to quiet those suspicions until he should have an opportunity of capturing the rich prize which was to be the finishing stroke to his achievements in this part of the world.