To the renegade every cloud had a silver lining, which sometimes his short-sightedness would not permit him to see.
He was angry at Laulewasikaw for the loss of Newaska, his trustiest brave, his keenest spy, and when the Prophet would enter his tent that night, after the scene in the wood, he waved him back.
“Let Laulewasikaw return to his lodge on the Miami,” he said. “The White Chief is inconsolable for the loss of Newaska, who would still have lived, had the Prophet not come.”
The words that flowed from the renegade’s lips, seemed steeped in gall, and when he had finished, the Prophet, whose sensibilities ofttimes a single word could wound, drew back from Girty, and fastened his dark orbs upon his face, pale with rage, in the soft starlight.
“Laulewasikaw has served the White Chief and well,” he said slowly, uttering every syllable distinctly. “He will serve him no longer. Henceforth let the White Chief shut his mouth to the great Prophet. Laulewasikaw could tell the Shawnees that the Great Spirit demanded the White Chief’s heart, and they would take it. But the Prophet turns not upon the adder that he has warmed in his bosom. If it can be guilty of ingratitude, Laulewasikaw spurns it,” and without another word, he turned away, and sought Greenville.
“Go!” hissed Girty, “I can git along without you. I know you took me to your lodge when you found me drunk and freezing to death, thirty odd years ago, but I’ve paid you, old devil, for that. I gave you a barrel of whisky which more than canceled that debt. Yes, yes, old fellow, we’re square.”
Finished speaking, he passed the guards and entered the lodge where, for a moment, he listened to the regular breathings of a slumbering person, beyond a partition of skins.
“I’ve half a mind to—,” and he suddenly rose from his couch, and stepped toward the curtains. “No,” and he paused as abruptly as he had risen, “if I can’t eucher all my enemies, both red and white, then I’ll have recourse to the knife. I might kill her now, and beat them to-morrow. Then I’d be in a pretty fix, wouldn’t I? I’ve always come out best in the end,” and with this he resought his couch.
Nothing of interest transpired in the Shawnee village the day that followed the night of thrilling scenes. Jim Girty moved about among the lodges as though nothing unusual had occurred; but Tecumseh’s warriors noticed that he kept quite a distance from the Wolf-Queen’s wigwam. He feared that the sight of his repulsive form would throw the mad-woman into a frenzy, which might result fatally to him.
Around the strong lodge stood Tecumseh’s trustiest braves—men whom he dared not approach—and he must seek the hearts of the prisoners, if he sought them at all, by proxy. He tried to fathom Tecumseh’s feelings toward him, but, while the chief spoke friendly, Girty noticed something lurking behind his manner—something indicative of hatred.