otta hurried to attend on him, while some of the older squaws
took care of his two troopers.

[Illustration: MAYSOTTA AND THE LIEUTENANT.]

Maysotta immediately brought him food and water. "Eat," she said; "the
'Fair Lily' is my friend as well as yours; I am as anxious as you are to
find her. As soon as you are rested we will set out. Were you to go now,
you would faint by the way."

I was standing outside the entrance to the tent while Maysotta was
speaking to the lieutenant, and it struck me, from her looks and tone of
voice, that she felt a warm interest in the young lieutenant, which
might, I feared, prove inconvenient, if it had not worse consequences.

I was watching the Indians, who, having lost their white prisoners, had
now brought forward their Redskin captives, and were dancing a horrible
war-dance round them. Their appearance on ordinary occasions was
somewhat savage, but they looked ten times more savage now, as they
shrieked, and leaped, and tossed their arms and legs about, and went
round and round, flourishing their tomahawks, and jeering at the
unfortunate people in their midst. The latter, knowing that they would
not yet be sacrificed, sat in perfect silence, without exhibiting any
emotion, and bearing patiently the insults heaped upon them.

I had not abandoned my idea of pleading for the unhappy prisoners, but
at this time I was thinking more of Clarice, and the means of recovering
her; still, should I go away, I feared that the prisoners might be put
to death during my absence. Having seen that the horses of my white
friends were turned out on a pasture close at hand, where they could get
abundance of grass, I went to the chief and asked him whether he wished
to be on friendly terms with the Palefaces?

He said that he certainly did--it was his greatest ambition.

"Then," I replied, "you must live as they do, and imitate their customs.
I have told you before, that we do not torture or otherwise injure our
prisoners, and that it is our duty to forgive our enemies, and to do
them good. Now I want you to promise me that no one shall suffer while I
am away."

The chief could not make up his mind to yield, but I urged him again and
again, and at last I hoped, from what he said, that he would do as I
wished.

The lieutenant was now sufficiently recovered to mount his horse, and,
followed by his two troopers, he and I set off in search of Clarice.
None of the Indians, however, offered to accompan