Chapter 21 - Page 2

wilful child. So; pat the animal and lay your hand on the
gewgaws, with which the Red-skins have ornamented his mane, giving
your eye as it were to one thing, and your mind to another. Listen; if
matters are managed with judgment, we may leave these Tetons as the
night sets in."

"A blessed thought!" exclaimed Middleton, who retained a painful
remembrance of the look of admiration, with which Mahtoree had
contemplated the loveliness of Inez, as well as of his subsequent
presumption in daring to wish to take the office of her protector on
himself.

"Lord, Lord! what a weak creatur' is man, when the gifts of natur' are
smothered in bookish knowledge, and womanly manners! Such another
start would tell these imps at our elbows that we were plotting
against them, just as plainly as if it were whispered in their ears by
a Sioux tongue. Ay, ay, I know the devils; they look as innocent as so
many frisky fawns, but there is not one among them all that has not an
eye on our smallest motions. Therefore, what is to be done is to be
done in wisdom, in order to circumvent their cunning. That is right;
pat his neck and smile, as if you praised the horse, and keep the ear
on my side open to my words. Be careful not to worry your beast, for
though but little skilled in horses, reason teaches that breath is
needful in a hard push, and that a weary leg makes a dull race. Be
ready to mind the signal, when you hear a whine from old Hector. The
first will be to make ready; the second, to edge out of the crowd; and
the third, to go--am I understood?"

"Perfectly, perfectly," said Middleton, trembling in his excessive
eagerness to put the plan in instant execution, and pressing the
little arm, which encircled his body, to his heart. "Perfectly.
Hasten, hasten."

"Ay, the beast is no sloth," continued the trapper in the Teton
language, as if he continued the discourse, edging cautiously through
the dusky throng at the same time, until he found himself riding at
the side of Paul. He communicated his intentions in the same guarded
manner as before. The high-spirited and fearless bee-hunter received
the intelligence with delight, declaring his readiness to engage the
whole of the savage band, should it become necessary to effect their
object. When the old man drew off from the side of this pair also, he
cast his eyes about him to discover the situation occupied by the
naturalist.

The Doctor, with infinite labour to himself and Asinus, had maintained
a position in the very centre of the Siouxes, so long as there existed
the smallest reason for believing that any of the missiles of Ishmael
might arrive in contact with his person. After this danger had