out Peter and his sister. The reason given was
perfectly natural and conceivable. Mrs. Lascelles had preceded Lady
Elfrida in entering the wood and taken another opening, so that Lady
Elfrida had found herself suddenly lost, and surrounded by two or three
warriors in dreadful paint. They motioned her to dismount, and said
something she did not understand, but she declined, knowing that she had
heard Mr. Atherly and the orderly following her, and feeling no fear.
And sure enough Mr. Atherly presently came up with a couple of braves,
apologized to her for their mistake, but begged her to return to the
fort at once and assure the colonel that everything was right, and that
he and his sister were safe. He was perfectly cool and collected and
like himself; she blushed slightly, as she said she thought that he
wished to impress upon her, for some reason she could not understand,
that he did not want the colonel to send any assistance. She was
positive of that. She told her story unexcitedly; it was evident that
she had not been frightened, but Lady Runnybroke noticed that there was
a shade of anxious abstraction in her face.

When the officers were alone the colonel took hurried counsel of them.
"I think," said Captain Fleetwood, "that Lady Elfrida's story quite
explains itself. I believe this affair is purely a local one, and has
nothing whatever to do with the suspicious appearances we noticed this
afternoon, or the presence of so large a body of Indians near Butternut.
Had this been a hostile movement they would have scarcely allowed so
valuable a capture as Lady Elfrida to escape them."

"Unless they kept Atherly and his sister as a hostage," said Captain
Joyce.

"But Atherly is one of their friends; indeed he is their mediator
and apostle, a non-combatant, and has their confidence," returned the
colonel. "It is much more reasonable to suppose that Atherly has noticed
some disaffection among these 'friendlies,' and he fears that our
sending a party to his assistance might precipitate a collision. Or he
may have reason to believe that this stopping of the two women under
the very walls of the fort is only a feint to draw our attention from
something more serious. Did he know anything of our suspicions of the
conduct of those Indians this morning?"

"Not unless he gathered it from what Lord Reginald foolishly told
him. We said nothing, of course," returned Captain Fleetwood, with a
soldier's habitual distrust of the wis