See, - the ship!" With dark forefinger he pointed toward the sea.
"Torquam would have thee hide with the rest of the women in the cave at
the Great Rock. There Kathah-galwa wilt keep thee safe, he says. Make
haste, oh Wildenai!"

"And am I not as safe up here?" returned the princess, calmly. "Be not
so lost in thy terror, oh Norqua. I, too, have seen the ship and I fear
not. Yet will I obey if so my father bids," she added quickly. "Go thou
ahead. I follow." And hastily gathering together some reeds and colored
grasses lying on the ledge, parts of an unfinished basket upon which,
evidently, she had during some previous visit been at work, she flung
them into a corner of the cavern and ran lightly down the narrow path
leading to the village.

Here all by this time was tense excitement, the dramatic, ungoverned
excitement of children. While with shrill cries two or three of the
women gathered the little ones together, the rest pulled frantically at
the poles holding each tepee in place. Still apparently quite unmoved,
Wildenai sought first her father standing surprised but unafraid in the
doorway of his lodge. Tall and spare and stern he looked, straight as
some lonely pine on the slopes of distant San Jacinto. Yet even in the
stress of such a moment a tender light stole into his eyes as they
rested upon his motherless daughter.

Wildenai made obeisance and for a brief moment the two surveyed each
other in silence. Then,

"It is well thou art come, my beloved one," spoke the chief. "Stranger
pale-faces will soon be amongst us."