ose cruel but just chiefs, try to
influence his brother's vote.

As Jim Girty took the war-club, Simon read in his brother's face the
doom of the converted Indians and he muttered to himself:

"Now tremble an' shrink, all you Christians!"

Jim was not in a hurry. Slowly he poised the war-club. He was
playing as a cat plays with a mouse; he was glorying in his power.
The silence was that of death. It signified the silence of death.
The war-club descended with violence.

"Feed the Christians to ther buzzards!"

Chapter XXIII.

"I have been here before," said Joe to Whispering Winds. "I remember
that vine-covered stone. We crawled over it to get at Girty and
Silvertip. There's the little knoll; here's the very spot where I
was hit by a flying tomahawk. Yes, and there's the spring. Let me
see, what did Wetzel call this spot?"

"Beautiful Spring," answered the Indian girl.

"That's it, and it's well named. What a lovely place!"

Nature had been lavish in the beautifying of this inclosed dell. It
was about fifty yards wide, and nestled among little, wooded knolls
and walls of gray, lichen-covered stone. Though the sun shone
brightly into the opening, and the rain had free access to the mossy
ground, no stormy winds ever entered this well protected glade.

Joe reveled in the beauty of the scene, even while he was too weak
to stand erect. He suffered no pain from his wound, although he had
gradually grown dizzy, and felt as if the ground was rising before
him. He was glad to lie upon the mossy ground in the little cavern
under the cliff.

Upon examination his wound was found to have opened, and was
bleeding. His hunting coat was saturated with blood. Whispering
Winds washed the cut, and dressed it with cooling leaves. Then she
rebandaged it tightly with Joe's linsey handkerchiefs, and while he
rested comfortable she gathered bundles of ferns, carrying them to
the little cavern. When she had a large quantity of these she sat
down near Joe, and began to weave the long stems into a kind of
screen. The fern stalks were four feet long and half a foot wide;
these she deftly laced together, making broad screens which would
serve to ward off the night dews. This done, she next built a
fireplace with flat stones. She found wild apples, plums and turnips
on the knoll above the glade. Then she cooked strips of meat which
had been brought with them. Lance grazed on the long grass just
without the glade, and Mose caught t