n the Sun Maid was called from her play among the wild flowers that
fringed the bank, and made to walk behind Wahneenah's skirts.

"Cling close, my Girl-Child! We're going into fairyland. Bow your
pretty head till it is low--low--low down, like this"; and herself
bending till her own head was very near the earth, the guide pushed
forward into what appeared to be a solid tangle of bushes.

"Why, Wahneenah! You can't go through there. It's a regular hedge. But
if you want to try, I have a little knife in my pocket, that my
Captain gave me. Let me go first--I am the man--and cut the way;
though I don't see why. Isn't there a better place?"

"There are many things a lad of ten cannot understand, Dark-Eye, even
though he be as manly as you. Trust Wahneenah. An Indian never
forgets, and never makes the haste that destroys. Watch me. Learn a
lesson in woodcraft that will be useful to you more than once. Cut or
broken twigs have tongues which betray. But thus--even a bird could
find no trace."

With infinite patience and accuracy of touch, the woman parted the
slender, interwoven branches so delicately that scarcely a leaf was
bruised, and little by little opened a clear passage into a downward
sloping tunnel. This tunnel ran directly under the river bed, and was
so steep in places that one might easily have coasted over it.

"Why, how queer! It's like the underground passage from the Fort to
the river, where we children used to peep, but were never allowed to
enter. What is it? Why is it?"

"Let your eyes ask and answer their own questions. They are safer than
a tongue, my son. But fear nothing. Where Wahneenah leads the way for
the children whom the Great Spirit has sent her they may safely
follow."

Then, without further speech, she went forward for what seemed a long
distance, through the half light of the tunnel, until it opened into a
wide chamber, across which trickled a clear stream and which was
fanned by a strong current of air.

The children were silent from curiosity, not unmixed with dread; and
their guide had also become very grave and silent. Memories were
crowding upon her soul, and banishing the present; but she was roused
at length by the wild clutch of the Sun Maid's arms, as something
winged swept by them in the twilight.

"Other Mother! Other Mother! I--I don't like it! Take Kitty, quick!"

"Ah! I was dreaming. My dead walked here beside me, and I forgot. But
is the Sun Maid ever afraid? I did n