e perhaps assumed the form,
"Well, but he _is_ so gentle, so respectful, so very unlike all the
braves I have ever seen; but I hate him, for all that! Is he not the
enemy of my tribe?"

Moonlight would not have been a daughter of Little Tim had she given in
at once. Indeed, if she had known that the man who spoke to her so
pleasantly was the renowned Rushing River--the bitter foe of her father
and of Bounding Bull--it is almost certain that the indignant tone and
manner which she now assumed would have become genuine. But she did not
know this; she only knew from his dress and appearance that the man
before her was a Blackfoot, and the knowledge raised the whole Blackfoot
race very much in her estimation.

"Is the fair-faced maiden," said Rushing River, referring to the girl's
comparatively light complexion, "willing to share the wigwam of a
Blackfoot chief?"

Moonlight received this very decided and unusually civil proposal of
marriage with becoming hauteur, for she was still ruffled by the
undignified manner in which she had been carried off.

"Does the fawn mate with the wolf?" she demanded. "Does the chief
suppose that the daughter of Little Tim can willingly enter the lodge of
a Blackfoot?"

A gleam of surprise and satisfaction for a moment lighted up the grave
countenance of the chief.

"I knew not," he replied, "that the maiden who has fallen into my hands
is a child of the brave little pale-face whose deeds of courage are
known all over the mountains and prairies."

This complimentary reference to her father went far to soften the
maiden's heart, but her sense of outraged dignity required that she
should be loyal to herself as well as to her tribe, therefore she
sniffed haughtily, but did not reply.

"Who is the little one?" asked the chief, pointing to Skipping Rabbit,
who, in a state of considerable alarm, had taken refuge behind her
friend, and only peeped at her captor.

Moonlight paused for a few seconds before answering, uncertain whether
it would be wiser to say who she was, or merely to describe her as a
child of the tribe. Deciding on the former course, in the hope of
impressing the Blackfoot with a sense of his danger, she said--

"Skipping Rabbit is the daughter of Bounding Bull." Then, observing
another gleam of surprise and triumph on the chief's face, she added
quickly, "and the Blackfoot knows that Bounding Bull and his tribe are
very strong, very courageous, and very revengeful