He had thrown one arm around her neck, and his lips were whispering something in her ears--probably the story of tender passion. “We will have the whole Shawnee nation to fight now,” said Hewitt, when Eudora had related her trials while in the hands of Girty. “And ere morn Tecumseh will be at our door. The wolves of Alaska will track Eudora hither, and then for the conflict. It must be near dawn now.” As he finished he drew aside a skin, that hung against the wall, and disappeared in a dark passage. Oonalooska awaited his return in silence, while Fairfax and Eudora conversed in low whispers. Suddenly the skin flew aside, and Hewitt sprung into the cave. His long beard was filled with tiny particles of decayed wood, and sparks of fire seemed to dart from his dark orbs. But his voice was as calm as a midsummer day. “Fifty-three braves are nearing us,” he said. “They are headed by Tecumseh and Alaska, who is surrounded by her accursed wolves. Jim Girty is not with them.” Oonalooska’s expression remained immobile, and Eudora threw a look at her wounded lover, but her lips uttered nothing. Her dark eyes shot a mingled look of determination and defiance toward the door. All at once a tomahawk struck the oaken planks, and a terrible yell followed. It was the war-whoop of Tecumseh! Leperto, the petted wolf, answered it with a dismal howl. CHAPTER V. THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH-SHOTS. Let us witness the return of Tecumseh, and follow the great chief and the Wolf-Queen to the hermit’s cave. Jim Girty did not desert his post, when he found the wigwam tenantless. On the contrary, he told his band to increase their vigilance, and remained immobile in the doorway of the lodge. He knew when Oonalooska disappeared with his prisoner, and he breathed freer than he had done for long hours. A run of three hours would bring the young brave to the homes of the exiled Mingoes, across the threshold of which, even Tecumseh, with all his greatness, dared not step, upon other than a friendly mission. He felt that he could conciliate Tecumseh, and that, when the spasm of frenzy, that now ruled Alaska’s heart, passed away, he could command Oonalooska to return with the captive. The storm, which proved of brief duration, did no damage to the village, and midnight brought Tecumseh. Several braves deserted Alaska to greet the returning band, and presently the mighty Shawnee, with angry countenance, faced the white-faced renegade. Jim Girty had learned to read his chieftain’s face, and in the ghostly glare of the torches, he read thereon an unsuccessful expedition. Tecumseh was in a fit mood to wreak vengeance on any man who owned a white skin. With drawn tomahawk he paused before the renegade, and shouted, as his eyes drank in the whole scene: “White Wolf, deliver the Pale Flower to Alaska!”