These angry exclamations arose from the group of settlers as they saw who was coming from behind the giant oak. Both Bob and Sandy, however, never for a moment dreamed of suspecting the young Indian brave of being concerned in the recent outrage.
They had found him seriously wounded at the time of the arrival of the emigrants on the Ohio. True, his hurts had doubtless been received during the preceding attack upon the camp of the pioneers, but the two boys did not let that influence them.
Something seemed to draw them to Blue Jacket, and they had nursed him tenderly in the new cabin, until one night he had vanished. The older settlers, who did not believe that a true heart could beat under a red skin, were loud in their declaration that the boys had only nursed a snake that would come back to sting them.
But, when Sandy was captured and carried away to the Shawanee village, it was by the aid of Blue Jacket that his release was finally accomplished.
Since that day they had seen more or less of the young Indian. He occasionally turned up at the Armstrong cabin, to spend a few days with his white friends, of whom he seemed very fond; then he would vanish in a mysterious way without saying good-bye, to once more reappear, weeks later, always bringing in a deer, or a wild turkey, as a present for the sweet little mother who reigned as queen of the frontier cabin. ([Note 4.])
Sandy, more impetuous than his brother, though not any more fond of the young Indian, hearing these hasty and ugly remarks, immediately sprang forward, and, placed himself in front of Blue Jacket, spread out his arms as he exclaimed with a show of anger:
"Don't any one of you dare to lift a hand against him! He is our friend, tried and true! Why, sooner than try to burn our cabin, Blue Jacket would put his own hand in the fire and let it be consumed. I stand for him. The one who raises his hand against Blue Jacket will have to fight Sandy Armstrong!"
After that, of course, the guns that had been half-raised were allowed to drop once more; but the dark scowls did not leave the stern faces of those who gathered around.
"See here, Sandy, and you, too, Bob," said one of their comrades, as he shook his head gravely; "it may look all right to you; but there are some of us who fail to see anything good in Indians. We have followed the tracks of the redskin who tried to burn your father's cabin. It led us here. And, from behind a tree, comes this young brave. We believe he is the guilty one, and, unless he can prove his innocence, we think we have a right to punish him, even to the extent of taking his life!"