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trapper and the Pawnee were startled by a faint cry of surprise from Inez.
Springing to their feet, like men, who were about to struggle for their lives,
they found the vast plain, the rolling swells, the little hillock, and the
scattered thickets, covered alike in one, white, dazzling sheet of snow.
 The Lord have mercy on ye all! exclaimed the old man, regarding the
prospect with a rueful eye,  now Pawnee do I know the reason why you studied
the clouds so closely; but it is too late; it is now too late! A squirrel
would leave his trail on this light coating of the  arth. Ha! there come the
imps to; certainty. Down with ye all, down with ye; your chance is but small,
and yet it must not be wilfully cast away.
The whole party was instantly concealed, again, though many an anxious and
stolen glance was directed through the tops of the grass, on the movements of
their enemies. At the distance of half, mile, the Teton band was seen riding
in a circuit, which was gradually contracting itself, and evidents closing
upon the very spot where the fugitives lay. There was but little difficulty in
solving the mystery of this movement. The snow had fallen in time to assure
them that those they sought were in their rear, and they were now employed,
with the unwearied perseverance and patience of Indian warriors, in circling
the certain boundaries of their place of concealment.
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Each minute added to the jeopardy of the fugitives Paul and Middleton
deliberately prepared their rifles and as the earnestly occupied Mahtoree
came, at length, within fifty feet of them, keeping his eye riveted on the
grass through which he rode, they levelled them together and pulled the
triggers. The effort was answered by the mere snapping of the locks.
 Enough, said the old man rising with dignity;  I have cast away the
priming; for certain death would follow your rashness. Now let us meet our
fates like men. Cringing and complaining find no favour in Indian eyes.
His appearance was greeted by a yell, that spread far and wide over the
plain, and in a moment a hundred savages were seen riding madly to the spot.
Mahtoree received his prisoners with great self-restraint, though a single
gleam of fierce joy broke through his clouded brow, and the heart of Middleton
grew cold as he caught the expression of that eye, which the chief turned on
the nearly insensible but still lovely Inez.
The exultation of receiving the white captives was so great, as for a time to
throw the dark and immoveable form of their young Indian companion entirely
out of view. He stood apart, disdaining to turn an eye on his enemies, as
motionless as though he were frozen in that attitude of dignity and composure.
But when a little time had passed, even this secondary object attracted the
attention of the Tetons. Then it was that the trapper first learned, by the
shout of triumph and the long drawn yell of delight, which burst at once from
a hundred throats, as well as by the terrible name, which filled the air, that
his youthful friend was no other than that redoubtable and hitherto invincible
warrior, the mighty Hard-Heart.
CHAPTER VIII.
 What, are ancient pistol and You friends, yet?
Shakspeare
Thecurtain of our imperfect drama must fall, to rise upon another scene. The
time is advanced several days, during which very material changes had occurred
in the situation of the actors. The hour is noon, and the place an elevated
plain, that rose, at no great distance from the water, somewhat abruptly from
the fertile bottom, which stretched along the margin of one of the numberless
water-courses of that region. The river took its rise near the base of the
Rocky Mountains, and, after washing a vast extent of plain, it mingled its
waters with a still larger stream, to become finally lost in the turbid
current of the Missouri.
The landscape was changed materially for the better; though the hand, which
had impressed so much of the desert on the surrounding region, had laid a
portion of its power on this spot. The appearance of vegetation was, however, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]