“Is there any particular point that you can remember? There was the Indian settlement where we met, little thinking then that we should be mates on a return journey. Whether it would be safe to trust them——” “There was another halt, up a little stream. A settlement of Peoria Indians, who are kindly and who have adopted many habits from the whites, are more intelligent than most other tribes. That is down farther still. It was our first stopping place. They were very generous with provisions.” “That will be one of our troubles. Still there will be small game to shoot and fish to catch.” Although there was considerable travel down the Illinois and some quite well-appointed stations, they were far between. The fur and trading fleets, if the lines of flat boats and canoes could be called that, carried abundant provisions. Roving bands of Indians and parties of adventurous hunters crossing the interior were the only travellers, and they often stopped at the forts. They went farther out by the river. And suddenly there was a serious surprise. Around a wooded bend came a canoe filled with Indians. Then another and one of stores, and one figure was suspiciously studying the shore. They had hidden among the trees, but were peering out cautiously. “Oh!” Wawataysee whispered, “it is Elk Horn and his party! See, he is standing up, looking this way! O Mother of God, come to the assistance of thy children!” and, sinking on her knees, she clasped her hands in supplication. It was Elk Horn. He had sobered up and began to realize that he might have made a better bargain with his prisoners. He had secured some more arms and ammunition, and hoped now to overtake Black Feather. His glance around was not indicative of the slightest certainty. He could not have dreamed that the fugitives in the woods were the very ones he meant to quarrel and perhaps fight about when he met Black Feather. Wawataysee scarcely breathed until the last canoe was but a dusky line on the river. “We certainly are safe,” Valbonais said. “Of course, they could not suppose we had escaped.” “I was so afraid they were in search of a landing place. Oh, if they had stopped!” in terror. “Then we would have plunged farther in the woods, climbed trees even. I do not mean to be taken a prisoner again; and surely, it will go hard with me if you are, or hard with the abductor!” with a gleam of resolution. “I am glad they have gone up the river,” declared Wawataysee. “Now there is no fear of meeting them.” “If we could find some traders coming down——” “And trust them?” There was a troubled light in her eye. “Oh, now that I know there are two people in the world, perhaps three, hungering for revenge on me, I am sore afraid at times. I shall never see a Huron without reading a menace in his eye.” Valbonais glanced at her inquiringly. “You have heard part of the story. Let me join the tangled threads, and you will the better understand my misgivings.”