chief's eyes.

"The eagle has been brought down at last. Rushing River will be the
same man no more. He has been hit in his heart."

"I think not, my son," returned Umqua, looking somewhat anxious. "A
piece of the bad gun struck the head of Rushing River, but his breast is
sound. Perhaps he is yet stunned, and had better sleep again."

"I want not sleep, mother," replied the chief in figurative language;
"it is not the bursting gun that has wounded me, but a spear of light--a
moonbeam."

"Moonlight!" exclaimed Umqua, with sudden intelligence.

"Even so, mother; Rushing River has at last found a mate in Moonlight."

"My son is wise," said Umqua.

"I will carry the girl to the camp of mine enemy," continued the chief,
"and deliver her to her father."

"My son is a fool," said Umqua.

"Wise, and a fool! Can that be possible, mother?" returned the chief
with a slight smile.

"Yes, quite possible," said the woman promptly. "Man can be wise at one
time, foolish at another--wise in one act, foolish in another. To take
Moonlight to your tent is wise. I love her. She has brains. She is
not like the young Blackfoot squaws, who wag their tongues without
ceasing when they have nothing to say and never think--brainless ones!--
fools! Their talk is only about each other behind-backs and of
feeding."

"The old one is hard upon the young ones," said the chief gravely; "not
long ago I heard the name of Umqua issue from a wigwam. The voice that
spoke was that of the mother of Eaglenose. Rushing River listens not to
squaws' tales, but he cannot stop his ears. The words floated to him
with the smoke of their fire. They were, `Umqua has been very kind to
me.' I heard no more."

"The mother of Eaglenose is not such a fool as the rest of them," said
Umqua, in a slightly softer tone; "but why does my son talk foolishness
about going to the tents of his enemy, and giving up a girl who it is
easy to see is good and wise and true, and a hard worker, and _not_ a
fool?"

"Listen, mother. It is because Moonlight is all that you say, and much
more, that I shall send her home. Besides, I have come to know that the
pale-face who was shot by one of our braves is the preacher whose words
went to my heart when I was a boy. I _must_ see him."

"But Bounding Bull and Leetil Tim will certainly kill you."

"Leetil Tim is not like the red men," returned the chief; "he does not
love revenge. My enemy Bounding Bull hunts w