nse darkness of the night
she would have inevitably been caught.

Creeping swiftly out of the sentinel's way before he returned, she
gained the centre of the camp, and in a few minutes was close to her
father's wigwam. Finding a little hole in the buffalo-skins of which it
was chiefly composed, she peeped in.

To her great disappointment, Little Tim was not there, but Brighteyes
was, and a youth whom she knew well as one who was about to join the
ranks of the men, and go out on his first war-path on the first occasion
that offered.

Although trained to observe the gravity and reticence of the Indian,
this youth was gifted by nature with powers of loquacity which he found
it difficult to suppress. Knowing this, Moonlight felt that she dared
not trust him with her secret, and was much perplexed how to attract her
mother's attention without disturbing him. At last she crept round to
the side of the tent where her mother was seated, opposite to the youth.
Putting her lips to another small hole which she found there, she
whispered "Mother," so softly that Brighteyes did not hear, but went
calmly on with her needlework, while the aspirant for Indian honours
sent clouds of tobacco from his mouth and nose, and dreamed of awful
deeds of daring, which were probably destined to end also in smoke.

"Mother!" whispered Moonlight again.

The whisper, though very slightly increased, was evidently heard, for
the woman became suddenly motionless, and turned slightly pale, while
her lustrous eyes gazed at the spot whence the sound had come.

"What does Brighteyes see?" asked the Indian youth, expelling a cloud
from his lips and also gazing.

"I thought I heard--my Moonlight--whisper."

A look of grave contempt settled on the youth's visage as he replied--

"When love is strong, the eyes are blind and the ears too open.
Brighteyes hears voices in the night air."

Having given utterance to this sage opinion with the sententious
solemnity of an oracle, or the portentous gravity of "an ass"--as modern
slang might put it--the youth resumed his pipe and continued the
stupefaction of his brain.

The woman was not sorry that her visitor took the matter thus, for she
had felt the imprudence of having betrayed any symptom of surprise,
whatever the sound might be. When, therefore, another whisper of
"Mother!" was heard, instead of looking intelligent, she bestowed some
increased attention on her work, yawned sleepily once or twice,