This speech was seconded by Simon Girty, Elliott and others, and Nanette saw the spy dragged to a strong log cabin in the center of the village, there to await the capture of May and M’Lellan, two brother scouts, upon whose trail a band of savages had been for several days, and whose capture, by the sanguine enemies of Wayne, was regarded certain.
The crowd that accompanied Mark Morgan to the prison was immense, and the cries that soared starward proclaimed the true wishes of the Indians.
“I’ll wring her whereabouts from you yet,” Nanette heard Mitre St. Pierre howl, “and if you give me any more such answers as you did awhile ago I’ll tear your heart out and cram it into your mouth.”
The spy said nothing, but smiled faintly at the Frenchman, which exasperated him the more.
All at once Nanette began to force herself through the crowd toward the scout, and at last she found herself at his side.
“To-morrow night!” she whispered in his ears, while the crowd greeted an outburst of anger from St. Pierre with hideous cries. “We’ll come for you then—Kenowatha and I. They won’t catch May and M’Lellan.”
He did not betray the avenger’s presence, and when the door closed on him, and a triple guard was thrown around the cabin, the young She-wolf hurried toward her home in the rocks, which she reached an hour or more before dawn.
After telling Effie that her lover was on his journey to Wayne—for she did not wish to inform the girl of the scout’s peril, she drew Kenowatha aside and communicated the true state of affairs.
“I told him that we would come to-morrow night,” she said.
“We will come!” cried Kenowatha, eager for action. “We will enter the village, and if any red-men cross our paths we’ll mark them to the terror of their brothers. Kai Ja Manitou shall look down upon a new mark—soon to be as terrible as the bloody half-moon. I have chosen my mark, Nanette—a cross!”