it glided along the large rivers and lakes of the Indian country, or
perhaps within the pages of a blood and thunder novel.




CHAPTER XV.

HOPE ALMOST DEFERRED.


Almost a week afterwards, on a Saturday night, the fighting Indians
gathered around a tepee near ours and began that never ending dancing
and singing. It was a most unusual thing for them to dance so close to
our tent. They had never done so before. It betokened no good on their
part and looked extremely suspicious. It seemed to me that they were
there to fulfil the threat they made some time previous, that they
would put an end to us soon. The hour was late and that made it all
the more certain that our doom had come. I became very nervous and
frightened at what was going on. When all at once there was a
scattering, and running, and yelling at the top of their voices,
looking for squaws and children, and tearing down tents, while we two
sat in ours in the depths of despair, waiting for further
developments. I clung to Mrs. Delaney like my own mother, not knowing
what to do. The cause of the stampede we were told was that they had
heard the report of a gun. That report was fortunate for us, as it was
the intention of the Indians to wrench us from our half-breed
protectors and kill us.

The tents were all down and in a very few minutes we were on the move