. However, he put the cheerful side of the subject
before the little girl, observing:

"It's the very easiest thing in the world for people to make mistakes
in meeting this way. What seems a certain point to one person may look
very different to another. I've noticed that."

"Oh! you have!" commented Kitty. "I think you've noticed almost too
much, Gaspar. I--I think it's awful lonely out here, and I don't
believe Abel would have let anybody hurt Wahneenah, even if Mercy
would. And--I want her, I want her!"

"Sun Maid! Are you afraid?"

"No, I am not. Not for myself. But if some of those dreadful white
people whom Wahneenah thought were her friends should overtake her on
their way home, and--and--take her prisoner! I can't have it,--I must
go back, and search again and again."

"Sing, Kit! If she's anywhere within hearing, she'll come at the sound
of your voice. Sing your loudest!"

Obediently, the Sun Maid lifted her clear voice and sang, at the
beginning with vigor and hope in the notes, but at the end with a
sorrowful trembling and pathos that made Gaspar's heart ache. So, to
still his own misgivings, he commanded her, also, to be silent.

"It's no use, girlie. She's out of hearing somewhere. Maybe she has
gone to the Fort already. Any way, it's getting very dark, and the
clouds are awful heavy. I believe there's a thunder-shower coming, and
if it does, it will be a bad one. They always are worse, Mercy says,
when they come this time of year. We would better hurry on to shelter
ourselves. If she isn't there, we can look for her in the morning."

"I like a thunder-storm. I believe it would be fine to go under that
clump of trees yonder and watch it. I have to go to bed so early,
always, that I think it is just grand to be up late and out-of-doors,
too."

"You are not afraid of anything, Kitty Briscoe! I never saw a girl
like you!" cried the lad, reproachfully.

"But you don't know other girls, boy. Maybe they are not afraid,
either. I can't help it if I'm not, can I?"

Gaspar laughed. "I guess I'm cross, child, that's all. Of course I
wouldn't want you to be a scared thing. But, let's hurry. The later we
get there the more trouble we may have to get in."

"Why--will there be trouble? If there is, let's go home."

"We can't go home. We've run away, you know. Besides, there would be
the same anxiety about Wahneenah. All 's left for us is to go on."

So the Sun Maid settled herself firmly in her saddle an