l this
information; and filled with anxiety for the danger that threatened
the wife of Ronayne, whom really he loved with a deep passion--yet
one utterly unfed by hope or expectation of any kind whatever--he
determined that night to enter the fort while her husband was on
guard, and acquainting her with her danger, entreat her to allow
him to conceal her until all was over. He succeeded, though not
without some risk of being discovered in consequence of the
exclamation of surprise and almost terror, which Mrs. Ronayne
uttered on his appearance so suddenly and unexpectedly before her;
but the humble manner of the boy--the deprecating yet earnest look
he threw on her, and the lowly posture in which he crouched, soon
satisfied her that there was some important reason for his
appearance at that hour of the night, which it was essential she
should learn. She, therefore, took his hand to reassure him, and
with an attempt at lightness, bade him tell her what brought him
there after so long an absence at that late hour of the night, and
when he must have known that Ronayne was on guard and herself alone?

The boy shook his head with a solemn, sad expression, "Come alone,
come!" he replied; "no speak him Ronayne. Pottowatomie kill him
Wau-nan-gee--oh, Wau-nan-gee very sick!"

Those few brief sentences, delivered in that melancholy and
significant manner, rendered Mrs. Ronayne extremely nervous. She
made him sit on the sofa. She took his hand--she asked him what he
meant. With tears swimming in his large, soft, languishing black
eyes, he told her everything relating to the subject--of his own
return for the express purpose of looking to her safety--of the
secret council of the Indians--of the fierce determination of
Pee-to-tum and the misguided young men whose cupidity and passions
he had so strongly awakened. He said he came to save her, to take
her out of the fort until all the trouble was over, to conceal
herself in a spot, to watch her, and to protect her as a brother.

"And Ronayne--your friend, my husband--what will you do with him?"
exclaimed Mrs. Ronayne, greatly excited and terrified by what she
had heard. "Oh, Wau-nan-gee, can you not save us all? Will it not
be enough to tell Capt Headley what you know, and thus put him on
his guard!"

"Suppose him tell Captain Headley, Ingin knew it--Ingin know
Wau-nan-gee tell him. Kill him Wau-nan-gee like a dog. Save him
Maria!"

"And will you not save Ronayne? If you care