, that in the endless wastes of the prairies its surest
protector was to be found in man, was so exceedingly docile as quietly
to submit to the close examination it was doomed to undergo. The hand
of the wandering Teton passed over the downy coat, the meek countenance,
and the slender limbs of the gentle creature, with untiring curiosity;
but he finally abandoned the prize, as useless in his predatory
expeditions, and offering too little temptation to the appetite. As
soon, however, as he found himself among the beasts of burden, his
gratification was extreme, and it was with difficulty that he restrained
the customary ejaculations of pleasure that were more than once on the
point of bursting from his lips. Here he lost sight of the hazards
by which he had gained access to his dangerous position; and the
watchfulness of the wary and long practised warrior was momentarily
forgotten in the exultation of the savage.

CHAPTER V

Why, worthy father, what have we to lose?
--The law
Protects us not. Then why should we be tender
To let an arrogant piece of flesh threat us!
Play judge and executioner.
--Cymbeline.

While the Teton thus enacted his subtle and characteristic part, not a
sound broke the stillness of the surrounding prairie. The whole band
lay at their several posts, waiting, with the well-known patience of the
natives, for the signal which was to summon them to action. To the eyes
of the anxious spectators who occupied the little eminence, already
described as the position of the captives, the scene presented the
broad, solemn view of a waste, dimly lighted by the glimmering rays of
a clouded moon. The place of the encampment was marked by a gloom deeper
than that which faintly shadowed out the courses of the bottoms, and
here and there a brighter streak tinged the rolling summits of the
ridges. As for the rest, it was the deep, imposing quiet of a desert.

But to those who so well knew how much was brooding beneath this mantle
of stillness and night, it was a scene of high and wild excitement.
Their anxiety gradually increased, as minute after minute passed away,
and not the smallest sound of life arose out of the calm and darkness
which enveloped the brake. The breathing of Paul grew louder and deeper,
and more than once Ellen trembled at she knew not what, as she felt the
quivering o