Prairie–bird mused for a few seconds, as if debating within herself the possibility of such falsehood; then raising her head, she said in a tone of emphasis, “Fear not: my father and your friend will return to us uninjured.”
“I accept the omen, sweet prophetess!” exclaimed Reginald, cheerfully; “and will believe that their thoughts are honest and straightforward, as you deem them, unless their conduct should prove the contrary; in that event,” he added, turning to War–Eagle, “my Indian brother and I will see what our own heads and hands can do to set free our friends.”
The chief replied not; but the sarcastic smile that played over his dark features, showed how little he shared in Prairie–bird’s opinion of Upsaroka faith.
Meanwhile, Bending–willow returned in safety to her lodge, where Besha presented her, with an air of triumph, to her impatient lord. The other wives and women retired while she related to him her adventures; and from the mingled laughter and caresses with which he listened to her narrative, it is probable that she confessed to him the motive that had induced her to seek the Medicine of the white tent.
As soon as she concluded, he desired one of his young men to lead before the lodge a favourite horse, swift, high–couraged, and strong, from the back of which he had killed, with lance and bow, many a bison cow. Placing the bridle of raw hide in the hands of the horse–dealer, he said, “Besha has brought back the Sweet–scented–willow to its bed, he shall not go away with empty hands. When he rides through the village the warriors shall say that his horse is fit to carry a chief; and if any speak to him bad words, let him tell them to beware, for White–bull calls him brother!”
So saying, the young savage, who had now completely recovered his good humour, half–lifted, half–threw the astonished dealer upon the horse’s back, and turned again into the lodge to renew his caresses to his recovered bride.
“All goes well!” thought Besha within himself, as he rode towards his own quarters, proving, with professional skill, the paces and qualities of his new steed. “All goes well! and this animal will fetch me two hundred dollars in the lower Arkansas country; few such are to be found there. I wonder where this Crow thief found or stole it? If I can manage with fine words to get a few more skins from this tribe, and a few more presents from the white men, I will join the summer return–train from the Black Hills, and make my way back towards the east.”
Indulging in these honest and disinterested meditations, the horse–dealer arrived before his own lodge, where his Indian wife awaited his coming with a savoury mess of bison–meat and marrow; after despatching which he smoked his pipe, without permitting any reflections concerning the prisoners whose cause he had so shamelessly betrayed to disturb his appetite or his present lazy enjoyment.
It was fortunate for them that they had an advocate more honest and zealous in a quarter where they least suspected it. This was Bending–willow; who, after showing to her lover–husband the coral necklace given to her by Prairie–bird, and repeating to him the kind treatment that she had experienced in the tent, entreated him to use his influence for the restoration of the prisoners.
This she was not able to effect, as he stated that they belonged to the great council, who would decide upon their fate, after consulting the Medicine; but she obtained from him a promise that he would in the meantime protect them from all chance injury, as well as from the violence of any personal enemy who might bear them ill–will.