ld look after her. "You might have met with us
in the woods last night," I said, "so you see you were not far from
friends." But the truth was that her troubles were only beginning, and
I was wretchedly anxious. My impulse was to try to get her back to the
Rappahannock; but, on putting this to Shalah, he shook his head.

"It is too late," he said. "If you seek certain death, go towards the
Rappahannock. She must come with us to the mountains. The only safety
is in the hill-tops."

This seemed a mad saying. To be safe from Indians we were to go into
the heart of Indian country. But Shalah expounded it. The tribes, he
said, dwelt only in the lower glens of the range, and never ventured to
the summits, believing them to be holy land where a great _manitou_
dwelt. The Cherokees especially shunned the peaks. If we could find a
way clear to the top we might stay there in some security, till we
learned the issue of the war, and could get word to our friends.
"Moreover," he said, "we have yet to penetrate the secret of the hills.
That was the object of our quest, brother."

Shalah was right, and I had forgotten all about it. I could not suffer
my care for Elspeth to prevent a work whose issue might mean the
salvation of Virginia. We had still to learn the truth about the
massing of Indians in the mountains, of which the Cherokee raids were
but scouting ventures. The verse of Grey's song came into my head:--

"I could not love thee, dear, so much,
Loved I not Honour more."

Besides--and this was the best reason--there was
no other way. We had gone too far to turn back, and, as our proverb
says, "It is idle to swallow the cow and choke on the tail."

I put it all to Elspeth.

She looked very scared. "But my uncle will go mad if he does not find
me."

"It will be worse for him if he is never to find you again. Shalah says
it would be as easy to get you back over the Rappahannock as for a
child to cross a winter torrent. I don't say it's pleasant either way,
but there's a good hope of safety in the hills, and there's none
anywhere else."

She sat for a little with her eyes downcast. "I am in your hands," she
said at last, "Oh, the foolish girl I have been! I will be a drag and a
danger to you all."

Then I took her hand. "Elspeth," I said, "it's me will be the proud man
if I can save you. I would rather be the salvation of you than the King
of the Tidewater. And so says Shalah, and so will say all of us."