He raised his arm in the direction of White Oaks, where lay the
girl's cottage, and cried like a triumphant fiend.
"Bonsoir. Adieu, ma belle Annette. Sweet dreams about your lover
to-night. To-morrow I shall bathe my face in the coils of your silken
hair." And he was away.
When Jean rode away from his master he fell into a train of musing.
"Methinks," he said aloud after a long pause, "that we had better
kill two birds with one stone to-morrow. If the master take the
mistress, I do not see why the man should not have the maid." And as
the fellow reached this conclusion his little weasel eyes brightened
as if each were the point of a glow worm; and he smote the flank of
his horse with his heavy heel. "You one day turned up your sweet,
haughty nose, Julie, when I told you how beautiful you were, and that
I would like to kiss the dew off your red lips. Well, Julie, my plan
for the morrow is to denounce you to Tall Elk as a spy; and after I
have got possession of you, my pretty one, with a brave at one side
of your pony, and myself at the other, we shall march to the
cottonwood where the door of ma mere stands always open to her son,
and that which belongs to him." So, chuckling over the fair prospects
of the morrow, the fellow urged his pony to the full of its speed,
down to the little village of St. Ignace.
Just as the sun went down like a shield of burning brass over the
gray line of the prairie on the morrow, a cringing, stealthy-looking
man might be seen riding a sorrel pony towards the verge of Alka
Swamp, near which were camped the painted warriors of Tall Elk. As he
drew near the squaws began to clap their hands, and the lean, ugly
dogs gave several short yelps. Tall Elk came to the door of his
wigwam, wherein sat several pretty young Cree wives sewing beads and
dainty work upon his war jacket; and going to the horseman he said: "The messenger from the great chief is welcome. What is his command
for Tall Elk?"
When the savage had heard the orders of the rebel chief, and the
additional instructions of Jean, he grunted: "Ugh; sorry to do this.
The two girls were always kind to the Indians; and our braves will
not like to do this against La Reine. But we must obey the orders of
le grand chef."
"It is well. Let your braves be ready to start when the gopher comes
out of his burrow." Fastening his horse to a cottonwood tree, this
miscreant emissary began to whistle a tune, and walked about among
the lodges, seeking to attract the attention of some pretty Indian
maiden, of which there were many in the tents. The braves were abroad
a little way, some looking for elk and others for muskrat, so that
the impudent Metis might go about seeking to break hearts without any
risk of getting a broken head.