He saw Mossuit face the menacing braves, with Silver Rifle hanging heavily on his arm, and then he heard the sub-chief’s voice.
“Warriors, I will be obeyed now,” cried the young Chippewa. “Hondurah is dead, and Oagla, who should have stepped into his shoes, lies before us. The Chippewas are chiefless. In the council-house we must say who shall be chief in Hondurah’s stead. Now turn upon your heels. Back to the council-house; and when we have a chief, the captives shall die.”
Without a word the rebellious warriors turned abruptly on their heels, and the march through the forest was resumed.
Mossuit walked erect, with the stricken girl in his arms.
He gloated over the thought that he had conquered Oagla’s braves, and was planning his elevation by chicanery to the chief sachemship of the Chippewa nation.
The mind of each was absorbed in dark plots, which smacked of the rifle, knife, tomahawk and stake, nor did they bear the footsteps of the White Tiger, who trailed them through the dim aisles of the forest.
The wood drama was drawing to a close; the curtain was rising on the last acts.
CHAPTER XV.
THE MYSTERY DISSOLVED.
“To the woods!” said our hero, calmly, turning to his friends. “There’ll be the Old Harry to pay directly. Wildcat has cheated Mossuit out of the chieftainship, and everybody will be after our scalps in a few minutes.”
The words were uttered by the young Destroyer. How came he here at the prison-lodge? Love, and anxiety to save those he loved, had led him to the village, and the dead guards lying on the ground told the means used to reach the prisoners. He had, one by one, by cunning artifice, lured the four men from their posts, and the deadly knife did its work, which the election of a new sachem, in the village, aided, for all the Chippewas were so interested in this important event that the prison-lodge was almost forgotten, and the braves left there to guard it were more interested in the excited doings in the council-chamber than in their allotted task. So the young Destroyer found his hazardous enterprise greatly abetted, and his subtlety and nerve had freed his friends, as we now find them.