ed there silently, standing side by side,
gazing anxiously across the dark water, and listening intently to the
varied discordant sounds borne to us on the night air. I know not what
may have been in her thought; but upon my lips there was a silent
prayer that we might be safely guided in our desperate mission. I
wondered still who this strange young woman could be, so surrounded by
mystery, a companion of savages, and still gentle and refined in word
and manner. I dare not ask again, nor urge her confidence; for there
was that of reserve about her which held me speechless. I glanced
aside, marking again the clear pure contour of her face, and my look
seemed instantly to arouse her from her reverie.

"I expect little trouble until we near the centre of the camp," she
said, thoughtfully. "'T is dark amid the northern lodges, and we shall
meet with no warriors there unless they be so far gone in intoxication
as to be no longer a source of danger. But come, friend, the longer we
tarry the less bright grows the hope of success."

A slender bark canoe rested close beneath the bank, and she motioned me
into it, grasping the paddle without a word, and sending the narrow
craft with swift, silent strokes across the stream. The other shore
was unprotected; so, hesitating only long enough to listen for a
moment, much as some wild animal might, she crept forward cautiously
into the black lodge-shadows, while I instantly followed, imitating as
best I could her slightest movement. We met no obstacle to our
advance,--not even the snarls and barkings of the innumerable curs,
usually the sleepless guardians of such encampments of savages. I soon
saw that as we crept around lodge after lodge in our progress, the
light of the blazing fires in our front grew constantly brighter and
the savage turbulence more pronounced.

At last the girl came to a sudden pause, peering cautiously forward
from beneath the shadow of the lodge that hid us; and as I glanced over
her shoulder, the wild scene was revealed in each detail of savagery.

"'T is as far as you will dare venture," she whispered, her lips at my
ear. "I know not the exact limit of our progress, but the lodge of
Little Sauk lies beyond the fire, and I must make the rest of the
distance alone."

"But dare you?" I questioned uneasily. "Will they permit even you to
pass unharmed?"

She smiled almost sadly.

"I have many friends among them, blood-stained as they are, and li