No attack had then been made, yet the officers talked among themselves of evacuating." For a moment the stern soldier seemed to have forgotten her, his eyes fastened upon the western horizon.
"The fools!" he muttered to himself, seemingly unconscious that he spoke aloud; "yet if I can but reach there in time, my knowledge of Indian nature may accomplish much." He turned quickly, with a sharp glance over his military force.
"We delay no longer.

Jordan, do you give this lady your horse for to-day's journey, and go you forward on foot with the Miamis.

Watch them closely, and mark well everything in your front as you move." "But, Captain Wells," she insisted, as he turned away, "I am exceedingly hungry, and doubt not this youth would also be much the better for a bit of food." "It will have to be eaten as you travel, then," he answered, not unkindly, but with all his thought now fixed on other things, "for our duty is to reach Dearborn at the first moment, and save those prisoned there from death, and worse." I shall always remember each detail of that day's march, though I saw but little of Toinette save in stolen glances backward, Wells keeping me close at his side, while De Croix, as debonair as ever, was her constant shadow, ministering assiduously to her wants and cheering her journey with agreeable discourse.

I heard much of their chatter, earnestly as I sought to remain deaf to it.

To this end Wells aided me but little, for he rode forward in stern silence, completely absorbed in his own thoughts.
During the first few hours we passed through a dull desolation of desert sand, the queerly shaped hills on either side scarcely breaking the dead monotony, although they often hid from our sight our advance scouts, and made us feel isolated and alone.