"Whispering Winds is a Christian."
Wingenund received this intelligence as a blow. He dismissed Girty
and sent his braves from his lodge, facing his daughter alone.
Gloomy and stern, he paced before her.
"Wingenund's blood might change, but would never betray. Wingenund
is the Delaware chief," he said. "Go. Darken no more the door of
Wingenund's wigwam. Let the flower of the Delawares fade in alien
pastures. Go. Whispering Winds is free!"
Tears shone brightly in the Indian girl's eyes while she told Joe
her story. She loved her father, and she would see him no more.
"Winds is free," she whispered. "When strength returns to her master
she can follow him to the white villages. Winds will live her life
for him."
"Then we have no one to fear?" asked Joe.
"No redman, now that the Shawnee chief is dead."
"Will Girty follow us? He is a coward; he will fear to come alone."
"The white savage is a snake in the grass."
Two long days followed, during which the lovers lay quietly in
hiding. On the morning of the third day Joe felt that he might risk
the start for the Village of Peace. Whispering Winds led the horse
below a stone upon which the invalid stood, thus enabling him to
mount. Then she got on behind him.
The sun was just gilding the horizon when they rode out of the woods
into a wide plain.
Pages:
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249