“Kenowatha.”
He sprung forward, a figure darted from the niche, and in the center of the cave he met the Girl Avenger!
“The battle is ended, Kenowatha,” she said, touching the trio of fresh scalps in her girdle. “They dreamed of an easy victory, not of a disastrous defeat. The Death League will never forget this night. But a moment since I saw Turkey-foot, the white Ottawa and Wacomet meet on the edge of the stream. The great chief and the white Ottawa got lost in the many dark paths above our heads, and at last found their way through passages which they could never traverse again, to the water. I heard them lift the stone away, and I glided to a spot which they could not reach. Ah! Kenowatha, I wished for you at my side when the red devils surrounded me. Oh, we would have annihilated the red League; but, boy, their time is fast coming. They may fill up their ranks whenever we strike, but soon there will be no ranks to fill. See! where are my string of scalps? where the guns I tore from hands cold in death, where all my trophies? Gone, boy, gone! Oh, I’ll have a terrible revenge now: for every scalp the demons burned to-night I will have two, and I swear that the League of Death shall melt away before my rifle.”
“Before our rifles say, girl,” said Kenowatha, clutching her arm as he looked up into her face.
“Ours, then, be it,” she cried. “But, Kenowatha, where’s the White Rose and the bad red-coat?”
Kenowatha pointed to the writing on the pale wall, and Nanette soon mastered it.
“I read the past through those words,” she said, turning to the youth, who waited with impatience for her to speak. “Wacomet must have entered the cave in advance of his brethren. Seeking the honor promised by his tribe to the Indian who should rid the world of me, he came hither alone, I say, found the girl and the major here, and took them captives. ‘Destined to a hidden spot somewhere,’ writes the pale girl on the stones. That place must be discovered, boy—ay, discovered before the white spy returns, else what will he think of us—of our promise, that we would watch the girl and well. I know you are with me, Kenowatha,” and her little hand stole into his, which action sent a thrill to his heart, “and when I swear that I will give my feet no rest until Effie is torn from the snares of the red snake, I know that your heart, beating in unison with mine, responds, amen.”
“Yes, yes, our lives have grown into one existence, Nanette, and we will rescue the girl that she may receive the kiss of pure love when her brave lover returns. But, girl, how long will your vengeance last?”
The eyes of the Girl Avenger sought the stones, and wandered over them with a listless stare.
“I don’t know, Kenowatha,” she said, at length, a pearl-drop glistening upon her cheek. “Why did you ask?”