A moment later, she stood on terra firma, and Kenowatha grasped her hand.
“Stoop!” he whispered in her ear, while he drew the little stained hand nearer the earth.
She obeyed.
Lower and lower the boy thrust her hand, until it touched a man’s face, still warm, and covered with what she well knew to be blood. Kenowatha allowed the girl’s hand to rest on the dead face for a moment: then he took her finger and ran it through two deep gashes on the bloody forehead, which formed his red mark—the cross.
“He came from the lodges, no doubt, to assassinate our spy,” whispered Kenowatha, proud of his work. “But his work is ended. They who wear my cross never admire it. Let us go; the guards may scent their brother’s gore.”
The Girl Avenger rose to her feet, and a moment later the trio were speeding toward the hidden guns, which reached, they resumed their journey until they paused on the banks of the Maumee several miles below the Ottawa town.
“You may tell her all now,” said Mark Morgan, as he took his rescuer’s hands to say farewell. “I owe you a life, and if you guard the girl—my white flower—well, I shall owe you another. I will not be gone long. I will meet my General marching this way, and you shall receive his thanks for what you have done to-night. Now mind you, watch the girl well; keep sleepless eyes on these persons—Wacomet the trader and Rudolph Runnion. When his wound permits, unless watched, that red-coat will attempt something desperate, for I tell you he has sworn that Effie shall not become my bride—before that happens he will take her life, or worse.”
“We will watch those whom you mention as we watch over our own lives against the Death League,” said Kenowatha. “Have no fears on that score; the first hand that is raised against the girl drops in death.”
Again Mark Morgan wrung the hands of the hunted twain, promised to return in a few days with Wayne, with whom they yearned to fight, and was gone.
“Now for the She-wolf’s den,” said Kenowatha, looking into Nanette’s face. “We have not broken our word. We told Effie that we were going deer-hunting, and if we haven’t hunted and saved one dear, to her, then I’ve no judgment. Won’t the girl open her eyes when we tell her all about her lover, and won’t that red-coat wish that the red-skins had scalped him before we found him? Yes, yes, girl, that man must be watched. Mark was right; he’s a dog. I’ve a mind to give him over to them who want him. I’ll warrant you that he shot young Campbell in cool blood, for I’ve seen the very devil in his black eyes. I tell you, girl—Nanette—I’m in for giving him up. I can get to the fort before dawn; the English will not give me over to those who seek my heart’s blood. I will appoint a place for a small portion of the garrison to meet me, say, to-morrow night, and then we will deliver the murderer over to justice.”