ve done so. Gaspar had long ago learned the red man's noiseless
ways, and the Sun Maid immediately placed herself beside the prostrate
chief, and clasping his hand that lay on his breast snuggled her cheek
against it, and followed his example.

The Black Partridge, like most of his race, could sleep anywhere, at
any time, and for as long as he chose. He had elected to wake at the
end of a half-hour, and he did so on the moment. Sitting up, he gently
placed the still slumbering Sun Maid upon the ground and moved forward
to the fire. While he ate the food she had provided for him, Wahneenah
continued standing near, but a little behind him; ready to anticipate
his needs, and with a humility of demeanor which she showed toward no
other person.

Gaspar watched the pair, wondering if they could really be of the same
race which had destroyed his childhood's home, and now again that
second home of his adoption--the Fort. He liked, and was impelled to
trust them both, and was already learning to love his foster-mother.
But when they began to converse in their own dialect, and with
occasional glances toward himself and the sleeping Kitty, the native
caution of his mind arose, and made him miserable. He remembered a
byword of the Fort:

"The only safe Indian is a dead one"; and with a sudden sense of
danger leaped to his feet and ran to bend above the unconscious maid.

"If you harm her, I'll--I'll--kill you!" he shouted fiercely.

Wahneenah looked amazed, but the Black Partridge instantly
comprehended the working of the boy's thoughts, and a smile of
satisfaction faintly illumined his sombre features.

"It is well. Let every brave defend his own. The Dark-Eye is no
coward. His years are few, but he has the heart of a warrior and a
chief. He must begin, at once, to learn the speech of his new tribe.
He that knows has doubled the strength of his arm. Draw near. There is
good and not evil in the souls of the chief and his sister. We are
Truth-Tellers. We cannot lie. We have pledged our faith to the
Dark-Eye and the Sun Maid--though she needs it not."

The sincerity and admiration in the Indian's eyes compelled the lad's
obedience; and when, as he stepped into the firelight, the chief
indicated that he should sit beside himself, and also nodded to
Wahneenah to take her own place opposite, his heart swelled with pride
and ambition. So had the white Captain trusted and counselled with
him. He had been faithful through all that