So swerving to the left, and taking a course at right angles to
their late one, they rode slowly and silently till a bluff rose from
the prairie, a short distance in front, like a hill.

"We shall tether our horses here, Julie; but I believe our stay will
not be a long one." And the pair dismounted, tied their tired beasts,
and swiftly raised the white sides of their tent.

"Ee-e-e-e!" it was Julie who gave the shriek. The thicket was
swarming with soft, noiseless wings, and a bird with burning eyes had
brushed the face of the maiden with its pinion. "What is it, ma
maitresse? It has two bright eyes, and it touched my face. Ee-e-e. O!
There it is again."

"What is the matter, Julie? Do you want to bring Jean and his
Indians here, with this pretty screaming of yours?"

"But it brushed me in the face twice, mademoiselle."

"These are only night hawks, Julie; they gather sometimes like this
in our own poplar-grove."

"O-o that's what it was? Pardonnez-moi. What a simpleton I am, my
mistress. Do you think they heard me?" and her sweet voice was now so
low, that the locust, dozing among the spray of the golden-rod, could
scarcely have heard her tones. The thicket was literally swarming
with these noiseless birds; and wondering they flew round and round
the figures of the intruders, but most of all did they marvel at the
great mound of white that had been raised amongst them. Some of them,
in alarm, rose high above the bluff, wheeling and darting hither and