"No, no!" cried Little Moccasin, and her hand fell on his arm. "If Fair Face kills the Whirlwind, he will never tell." Catlett looked into the forest beauty's eyes as a puzzled expression settled upon his face. "Never--never tell!" repeated the girl, mystifying him the more. "Never tell what, Moccasin?" exclaimed the scout, as he put his arm about her and drew her near him. "He knows Areotha's true father." "No!" "He said so last night in his own cabin door, and when he said he would not tell, Areotha raised her rifle; but he told her to shoot, and never, never know, and--she let the rifle fall. My father knows, for when the wound-fever was upon him he said strange things, and made me go away when I came near." Catlett was silent, busy with his thoughts, and when he started he saw Areotha's eyes fixed upon him. "The brute may know," he said. "I wish I could wrest the secret from him." "Fair Face will not kill him, then?" said the girl, pleading for the life of the scourge of the settlements. "When the right time comes he will tell." "That time, in his opinion, will never come. When Jim Girty hates, he hates forever." "But will Fair Face spare him?" "I would not spare the wolf that has trailed me for years, nor would I be lenient with the hound that has spilled the blood of women and their little ones. Wolf and hound is this very man whom you have called father these many years." "He is very bad!" the girl said, dropping her eyes. "_But he knows!_" "Then for your sake I will not slay him, save in self defense. Otherwise on sight would I shoot the human blood-hound." Before Harvey Catlett had ceased to speak a pair of arms encircled his neck, and he felt hot kisses on his face. Areotha had conquered him. "We part here," he said, gently releasing himself. "Does Fair Face go to trail the Whirlwind?" "I go to wrench Kate Merriweather from his grasp. This is my sole mission; then back to Mad Anthony, to fight in the battle near at hand." "And Areotha?" "Go to the camp over the river, and tell Wolf Cap what I have done." A pallor of fear and distrust came over the girl's face. "He hates Areotha, and the young men do not like her." "Do not fear the tall hunter now," Harvey said. "Does he like Areotha?" she cried, brightening up. "She often dreams about him, but a shadow comes between us, and in his place is the Whirlwind and his home." "You need not fear him, though he may act strangely sometimes. He will protect you from the two young men of the party. You may be of assistance to the fugitives. Stay with them until I come. Go, little one. God bless you." They parted in the glen, and Harvey Catlett did not stir until the wood witch had vanished from his sight. "I believe it stronger than ever, now," he said. "I hope it may be so. Jim Girty, I have virtually sworn to spare your life--for on this trail we are bound to meet--and there is but one woman in the world who could have made me promise."