He sighed:
“Then I must do that which I would not. You shall be my wife. Death alone shall separate us!”
Huldah started. Captain Strong had uttered the same words!
CHAPTER XIV.
WOLF’S DEN.
The reader will recollect that Wolf-Cap dismissed his Indian allies, Silver Hand and Golden Cheek, beneath the palisades of Fort Strong, a few moments prior to his appearance among the ranks of the besieged.
The red twain sought the camp of the foe, and in time witnessed the triumph of Royal Funk, as already related. Silver Hand, the shrewder of the two, saw that Colonel O’Neill would not relinquish the contest for Huldah Armstrong’s person without another struggle, and so he watched that red-coated worthy narrowly. He therefore sent his confederate down the river to intercept the Night-Hawk, and to warn him of the ambush.
Golden Cheek undertook the mission cheerfully, while Silver Hand hastened to secure the assistance of Wolf-Cap, in order to snatch Huldah from her outlawed lover’s power, and to put an end to the marauding band.
Spagano, the Indian, who turned Roy Funk from the ambush, and afterward stole Huldah from his camp and was shot by O’Neill’s men, as the reader has already seen, was none other than Golden Cheek. He had mistaken the British footsteps for those of his friends, and he had thought to steal the girl on their approach, that they might pour a destructive volley among the sleepers.
But he failed, and fell in the wood, like many of his ancestors had fallen before him.
Silver Hand was more successful. He found Wolf-Cap and Mark Harmon after trailing them some distance, and hastened down the river. They were surprised when they beheld Zebulon Strong bearing Huldah Armstrong down the self-same stream, and the pursuit which they inaugurated in bright anticipations, ended over the captain’s corpse.