The two captives drew long breaths of relief when at last the Indian halted, and Effie found herself wondering if his home was not near, for she was much fatigued, and her feet were sore. She was about to question Wacomet regarding the location of the hidden spot, when he suddenly strode forward toward the tangled vines, and his captives were surprised to see him part the long hangers with his right hand, and display an opening leading straight into the rock. “The hidden spot,” ejaculated Effie St. Pierre, looking up into the major’s face. “The sharpest spy in the world would pass and repass this place a thousand times and never discover it.” The sharp ear of Wacomet caught the girl’s words, uttered scarce above a whisper, and he said, as he pushed his captives into the gloom, springing after them himself: “Yes, the serpent has crawled by Wacomet’s hole in the ground, and never entered, for his sharp eyes saw it not. Wacomet tracked the she-grizzly here once, entered boldly, slew her with his knife, and brought thither his red mistress.” The corridor leading to the main cave proved a tortuous way; but at last the party reached the termination. A light burned in the center of the apartment, and before it, arranging gaudy feathers in her long black hair, sat Wacomet’s red queen. She arose to greet her master, but when her dark, lustrous eyes fell upon the beauteous Effie St. Pierre, her hands clenched involuntarily, and her lips quivered with passion. “Who does Wacomet bring to his cave home?” she demanded, a flush of anger mounting to her temples. “The spies of the accursed Black Snake hunt for the pale flower; they have pierced the fair one’s lover with their balls, but Wacomet saved her and the Briton and they are here till the coming of another night.” “And they shall go, then?” “Yes, Wacomet swears it; when the stars sleep and shine again, they shall go.” Then the outlaw drew Ewana aside, and for a few moments they conversed in low tones. “Guard the prisoners well until I return,” said Wacomet, in a tone loud enough to reach the captives’ ears, at length, “and at the first show of attempts at escape, shoot them down, like dogs.” Then, satisfied that he had dissipated Ewana’s jealousies, and that all would go on swimmingly at the cave until his return, the Ottawa glided off to join his comrades in their search for the young She-wolf. Ewana proceeded to bind the captives’ feet with deer-thongs, and made them separate couches between which she sat, and again resumed the arranging of her hair. In the silence which followed, Effie St. Pierre, tired and sore, fell back on the pillow of mink-skins, stuffed with the small soft feathers of the river snipe, and soon was fast asleep. Her last thoughts were that the Girl Avenger and Kenowatha would read her writing on the wall when they returned, and would give no rest to their feet until she was snatched from Wacomet’s hands.