“Dick,” said Roger, “I am sure I know that man in the lead, with the feathers of a chief in his long black hair, and the bears’ claws around his neck.”
“Yes,” the other remarked, “I was just going to say the same thing. He is a sub-chief by the name of Beaver Tail. Surely he should remember us, and what we did to make his chief our friend.”
“Will he remember us, do you think?” continued Roger, apprehensively.
“Have no fear,” Dick assured him; “all will be well. An Indian, once a friend, can be depended on forever. I am only too glad now I held my fire.”
As the first of the Indians came up, the boys waited anxiously to see whether they would be recognized by the sub-chief. To their satisfaction Beaver Tail immediately greeted them as friends, after the manner of his tribe.
Others of the warriors must also have discovered that they had seen two of the palefaces among the lodges in their home village, for there were numerous grunts and friendly nods among them.
“How can we let Beaver Tail know what we are here for, and beg him to help us save Williams from the Frenchmen?” Dick now asked. “The chances are that not one of the braves or the chief himself can speak a word of English. Shall we make signs in the snow, and tell him that way?”
“Leave it to me, lad,” Mayhew told him. “I have a little smattering of the Sioux tongue, for once upon a time I was a prisoner among their wigwams for months. With the aid of signs I shall be able to tell him the story of how we seek Williams, the man who was in your company at the time their chief set you free. And they will, I feel sure, help us carry out our plan.”
Both the pioneer boys watched Mayhew with intense eagerness as he faced Beaver Tail and commenced to speak to him in his own language. The chief looked astonished and pleased as well, for he had never dreamed that a paleface could talk in the Dacotah tongue. ([Note 10].)
While Mayhew was talking Dick watched the face of Beaver Tail. He could see that by degrees the chief was catching the drift of what the guide tried to explain. Of course this consisted in the main of their desire to overtake Williams, who had set off on a hunting trip, and more to the effect of how he had been unlucky enough to fall into the hands of the Blackfeet, who were acting in conjunction with certain French traders.