E-text prepared by Mark C. Orton, Jacqueline Jeremy, Ian Deane, Linda McKeown, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 24097-h.htm or 24097-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/0/9/24097/24097-h/24097-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/0/9/24097/24097-h.zip) THE STORY OF RED FEATHER A Tale of the American Frontier by EDWARD S. ELLIS Illustrated [Illustration] McLoughlin Brothers, Inc. Made in U. S. A. McLoughlin Bros. Inc. Springfield Mass. Publishers 1828 [Illustration: "To-wika talked soothingly to him."--Page 118] CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE Brother and Sister--The Signal 3 CHAPTER TWO An Important Letter--Shut in 14 CHAPTER THREE Caught Fast--A Friend in Need 25 CHAPTER FOUR The Consultation--On the Roof 36 CHAPTER FIVE A Strange Visit--Ominous Signs 47 CHAPTER SIX The Muddy Creek Band--The Torch 58 CHAPTER SEVEN "A Little Child Shall Lead Them"--Surrounded by Peril 69 CHAPTER EIGHT Tall Bear and his Warriors--A Surprising Discovery 80 CHAPTER NINE Nat Trumbull and his Men--Out in the Night 91 CHAPTER TEN An Old Friend--Separated 102 CHAPTER ELEVEN At the Lower Crossing--Tall Bear's Last Failure 114 CHAPTER TWELVE Conclusion 127 THE STORY OF RED FEATHER CHAPTER ONE BROTHER AND SISTER--THE SIGNAL It is within my memory that Melville Clarendon, a lad of sixteen years, was riding through Southern Minnesota, in company with his sister Dorothy, a sweet little miss not quite half his own age. They were mounted on Saladin, a high-spirited, fleet, and good-tempered pony of coal-black color. Melville, who claimed the steed as his own special property, had given him his Arabian name because he fancied there were many points of resemblance between him and the winged coursers of the East, made famous as long ago as the time of the Crusades. The lad sat his horse like a skilled equestrian, and indeed it would be hard to find his superior in that respect throughout that broad stretch of sparsely settled country. Those who live on the American frontier are trained from their earliest youth in the management of quadrupeds, and often display a proficiency that cannot fail to excite admiration.