“What does she mean, Oll?” asked Bell, turning to the trader with a troubled expression.
“She must either be a mute, or the stubbornest Indian girl I ever saw,” replied the trader. “Make her talk, Doc, or see what ails her.”
Intent upon obeying his companion, the Hercules of the forest turned to the Indian girl again.
“Does the red girl hear what the pale hunter says?” he asked.
A nod answered his question.
“And why don’t she answer him?”
The Indian’s lips parted now, but not a word broke the silence; and as she stepped nearer the hunter, her mouth opened to its utmost capacity, and for a moment he gazed therein.
Then he started back with an expression of horror, and gazing into the trader’s anxious face he cried:
“Great heavens! Blount, she’s tongueless!”
An exclamation of genuine horror escaped Oliver Blount’s throat.