sit ever in the door of your home
praying for the west wind to blow. Or, if my chief wills, we shall
live the Indian life, free as two eagles on their lonely crag."

Although Joe gave himself up completely to his love for his bride,
he did not forget that Kate was in the power of the renegade, and
that he must rescue her. Knowing Girty had the unfortunate girls
somewhere near the Delaware encampment, he resolved to find the
place. Plans of all kinds he resolved in his mind. The best one he
believed lay through Whispering Winds. First to find the whereabouts
of Girty; kill him if possible, or at least free Kate, and then get
away with her and his Indian bride. Sanguine as he invariably was,
he could not but realize the peril of this undertaking. If
Whispering Winds betrayed her people, it meant death to her as well
as to him. He would far rather spend the remaining days of his life
in the Indian village, than doom the maiden whose love had saved
him. Yet he thought he might succeed in getting away with her, and
planned to that end. His natural spirit, daring, reckless, had
gained while he was associated with Wetzel.

Meanwhile he mingled freely with the Indians, and here, as
elsewhere, his winning personality, combined with his athletic
prowess, soon made him well liked. He was even on friendly terms
with Pipe. The swarthy war chief liked Joe because, despite the
animosity he had aroused in some former lovers of Whispering Winds,
he actually played jokes on them. In fact, Joe's pranks raised many
a storm; but the young braves who had been suitors for Wingenund's
lovely daughter, feared the muscular paleface, and the tribe's
ridicule more; so he continued his trickery unmolested. Joe's idea
was to lead the savages to believe he was thoroughly happy in his
new life, and so he was, but it suited him better to be free. He
succeeded in misleading the savages. At first he was closely
watched, the the vigilance relaxed, and finally ceased.

This last circumstance was owing, no doubt, to a ferment of
excitement that had suddenly possessed the Delawares. Council after
council was held in the big lodge. The encampment was visited by
runner after runner. Some important crisis was pending.

Joe could not learn what it all meant, and the fact that Whispering
Winds suddenly lost her gladsome spirit and became sad caused him
further anxiety. When he asked her the reason for her unhappiness,
she was silent. Moreover, he was surpris