My elder brother's heart is charitable to the homeless." "And to children, also," he said very quietly.

And added, with a gleam of humour, "All children, O Loskiel, my littlest brother! Is not my heart open to you ?" "And mine to you, Mayaro, my elder brother." "Yet, you watched me at the fire, every night," he said, with keenest delight sparkling in his dark eyes.
"And yet I tracked and caught you after all!" I said, smiling through my slight chagrin.
"Is my little brother very sure I did not know he followed me ?" he asked, amused.
"Did you know, Mayaro ?" The Siwanois made a movement of slight, but good-humoured, disdain: "Can my brother who has no wings track and follow the October swallow ?" "Then you were willing that I should see the person to whom you brought food under the midnight stars ?" "My brother has spoken." "Why were you willing that I should see ?" "Where there are wild pigeons there are hawks, Loskiel.

But perhaps the rosy throat could not understand the language of a Siwanois." "You warned her not to rove alone ?" He inclined his head quietly.
"She refused to heed you! Is that true?
She left Westchester in spite of your disapproval ?" "Loskiel does not lie." "She must be mad!" I said, with some heat.

"Had she not managed to keep our camp in view, what had become of her now, Sagamore ?" I added, reluctantly admitting by implication yet another defeat for me.
"Of course I know that you must have kept in communication with her--though how you did so I do not know." The Siwanois smiled slyly.
"Who is she?
What is she, Mayaro?
Is she, after all, but a camp-gypsy of the better class?
I can not believe it--yet--she roves the world in tatters, haunting barracks and camps.

Can you not tell me something concerning her ?" The Indian made no reply.
"Has she made you promise not to ?" He did not answer, but I saw very plainly that this was so.
Mystified, perplexed, and more deeply troubled than I cared to admit to myself, I rose from the door-sill, buckled on belt, knife, and hatchet, and stood looking out over the river in silence for a while.
The Siwanois said pleasantly, yet with a hidden hint of malice: "If my brother desires to walk abroad in the pleasant weather, Mayaro will not run away.