"Julie need not fear for the chief. He is very likely in that
cottonwood bluff near where we parted."
"He could hide safely there, think you mademoiselle?" and she gave
her reins a joyous fling. Then in an altered tone, "But he must think
me indifferent, that I did not ask him how he was to conceal from the
braves knowledge of what he had done."
"There is not much fear that he will think petite indifferent,"
Annette replied in a playful tone. "A sweet girl that asks a lover to
kiss her is not indifferent."
"Oh, there now, mademoiselle; please don't! Oh, it was such a
dreadful thing for me to do. Perhaps he will not like me for it;" and
this wretched darling was the colour of a new-blown poppy.
"Why, Julie, they are closing upon us," Annette exclaimed, as she
turned to look at the pursuers. "Their ponies are fresh, and our
horses cannot keep up a long run, I fear. Spur on, Julie," and the
girls put their horses at the top of their speed.
"There, we are holding our distance now Julie; and I think gaining a
little," she added after a few moments. "See, some of their ponies
are falling out of the chase," and a glance revealed four savages now
several hundred yards in advance of the main body which were
evidently unwilling to join further in the pursuit.
"These four Julie, must in the end overtake us. Note their lithe,
large ponies, and what a buoyant spring they have."
"How soon, mademoiselle, will they catch us? and what will we do
then?"
"You must not ask two questions at once, Julie. I mean, you must not
get frightened. As to the first question,"--the sentences were now
and again broken by the swift galloping--"they will catch us probably
in half an hour."
"Oh, goodness," Julie said.
"As to the second, we must fight them."
"Mon Dieu, they will kill us mademoiselle."
"Perhaps; but they will have to try hard. See yon valley with the
tangles of bush?"
"Oui, mademoiselle."
"I know that valley. Was there once with mon pere. Unless they keep
directly upon our trait, I shall lead them into a pretty mess."
Altering her course, suddenly, for a bluff intervened and hid the
movements of the girls from the savages, Annette followed by Julie
made rapidly for the bottom of the valley, crossing through a belt of
straggling cedar and larches, and then held her way along the skirt
of the opposite ridge.
Faint, far-off yells told the girls that they had been again
discovered, but they had the consolation of knowing that their
pursuers must have lost almost a quarter of a mile. But the best part
of the matter was that, as Annette had expected and planned, the
Indians descended into the valley at a point much higher than that
chosen by the pursued. They knew not of the stretch of quaking,
treacherous bog, with its population of designing beaver; indeed,
they would be certain to be lured by the bright, glittering green of
the liverwort that clad the level where the ground was most
unsubstantial.