“An unpitying demoness has arrived upon the scene,” he said, returning her fearful look with one full of sadness. “Coleola can rule the passions of this band of red-skins, as supremely as the master the actions of his slave. Girl, expect no mercy at her hands; the bare sight of her has dissipated all my hopes of escape.”
While he spoke, the Snake Queen and her followers descended, and crossed the creek by wading.
Coleola’s dark orbs flashed fire when they fell upon her late captive, and scarcely had she emerged from the water, when with a panther-like yell she darted forward and halted before the fair white girl.
Her passion kept the Indians aloof, and with distended eyes they watched her wild, mad movements.
“The she white serpent crept from the hole in the ground and slew Segagi!” she hissed, and with a dextrous movement she uncoiled the serpents that encircled her neck, and thrust them forward until their forked tongues almost touched Kate’s face. “Yes,” she hissed, more fiendishly than ever, “in the great forest, a prey to the wolf and panther, lies Segagi, Coleola’s most trusted spy. And does the White Snake hope to boast of her shot, behind the walls of the great fort?”
She paused, expecting a reply, but the brave girl rewarded her with none, and striking her cheeks with the whip-like tails of the snakes she drew back a pace.
“The pale girl must talk to the Manitou!” she continued, “for Coleola’s snakes shall writhe in her bosom when the fair skin has been torn away.”
A shudder swept to the hearts of the captives at this terrible announcement. The face of Oliver Blount grew white as snow when he looked upon his daughter, and thought of the fate that the furious Snake Queen had marked out for her.
The leaders of the war-party did not attempt to interfere with the Delaware demoness; they feared her as they feared the evil spirits; and there were many who believed that she was the natural daughter of Watchemenetoc, for no one, not even the white-haired chiefs, could tell how and when she first appeared to the Delaware tribe.
From Kale Blount her eyes swept to the form of the wood Hercules, and a terrific yell pealed from her throat as she sprung before Doc Bell, and glared upon him with the ferocity of the whelp-robbed jungle tigress.