CHAPTER XXXVIII. WHITE ANTELOPE’S PERIL.

There was much disturbance in the encampment about this time, as Buffalo Bill had seen when making his observations from the high peaks about the valley. The Indians ran to and fro like ants, and runners frequently went out, or came in by the northern roads. This meant surely that Oak Heart was communicating with the other chiefs, and the scout feared that, stirred up by Boyd Bennett in his character of medicine chief, the Sioux leader was preparing for another attack like that on Fort Advance.

Rumors ran rife among the Indians regarding the movements of the bluecoats, and the numbers of them who had come to bury the dead whites after the recent ambush in which Oak Heart himself had taken part. The old chief, believing that Lieutenant Danforth was coming to attack his encampment, had taken part in this sanguinary struggle himself.

Now certain warriors brought strange rumors into the village. It was said that Pa-e-has-ka was on the war-path, too. And that he was leading the whites to the encampment. So spoke the Death Killer, the white medicine chief of the Sioux, who was gaining great influence with the young men of the tribe.

“Pa-e-has-ka is my foe,” he said bitterly, “and I sought to bring him captive here, or to slay him with his friend; but the White Antelope freed him, and sent him back to his people to carry Oak Heart’s warning. What has been done? Do not the white men come in force into the Indian country?

“The White Antelope turned a panther loose upon the trail of my red brothers. And he told her that he would return and come a prisoner again into Oak Heart’s village, and to his lodge. Has he come?”

“No!” answered many voices.

“But the warriors come in and tell how Pa-e-has-ka has killed their comrades, scalped their brothers, and laughed at them for squaws. Will the Sioux braves let the paleface dog longer kick dirt in their faces? Is he not now near their village, and yet no warrior brings in his scalp, because he is under the protection of the White Antelope?”

A murmur arose from the old men about the council circle.

“Let my medicine braves seek his trail and bring him alive into the presence of the great chief, and the Death Killer will show him how the Pa-e-has-ka will weep like a squaw when he is bound to the torture-stake.”

This speech of the renegade excited the Indians to frenzy. There was no longer any possibility of restraining the young men. A hundred warriors took the trail with the avowed intention of bringing in the Long Hair.

When Red Knife was found dead upon the bluff overlooking the camp there was considerable wonder expressed. The unfortunate scion of the Crow family had lost caste, it was true, but why he should have been killed by the supposedly lurking white man--the Red Knife had gone from the camp unarmed--even the redskins themselves could not understand. As the murders increased Bennett grew louder in his objurgations against Long Hair.

From the hour of his disappointment upon the gory field where Danforth and his band had met their doom, the renegade had thirsted for revenge upon the scout. He had secretly despatched a noted warrior to meet and kill Buffalo Bill on his return; but having not again seen or heard of this brave, Bennett feared that he had come to grief at the hands of the old Indian fighter.

The medicine chief did not wish Buffalo Bill to really appear before Oak Heart and the old chiefs of the tribe. He was not at all sure what the outcome of such a venture might be. Indians admire bravery and boldness above all other virtues, and Bennett feared the dashing scout might influence the tribe against _him_, too.

For defending the scout and permitting him to go free upon his pledge to return, the renegade had not forgiven the White Antelope. Yet he knew the influence she held in the tribe, that upon account of her having been born with yellow hair, and growing up far more beautiful than any maiden of the Sioux, she was regarded as a favored child of the Great Spirit, and that should he cross her will he might lose the power he had gained over the tribesmen.

He had hoped, too, to win the Indian maiden for his lodge, when he first became familiar with the tribe; but she had treated his advances with disdain, and this was a second reason why he felt revengeful toward her. To get any redskin to aid him in a plot against White Antelope, he knew would be impossible; yet he did not despair of either conquering the proud girl, or getting rid of her altogether. At least, he desired to keep her away from the camp and the council if Buffalo Bill were brought in; otherwise, she might disturb all his plans and aid in the release of the white man.

Therefore the medicine chief watched the teepee of the white queen keenly. When he saw her mount her pony and gallop out of the village, and past the guards which encircled it, Boyd Bennett followed secretly. White Antelope, accustomed to going where and how she pleased, and having unbounded confidence in her own prowess, rode to the top of a ridge some distance from the encampment.

The young brave who sentineled this high strip of ground was much in love with the beautiful daughter of the chief, and with her before his eyes he forgot all else. So wrapped was the young man in the contemplation of the girl that he forgot his duty. A form suddenly bounded from behind a rock near-by, an iron hand gripped the youth’s throat and bore him backward out of sight, and the long knife in the murderer’s hand struck home--to the heart.

It was over instantly. No sound--only a gasp, and the death-rattle in the brave’s throat. Then, with the knife, the murderer made a quick incision in a rough circle in the scalp, about the size of a dollar, and with his teeth tore off the dead warrior’s scalp-lock.

Seated there by the side of his victim the slayer looked upon him with real pleasure, while he muttered in a sinister tone:

“More blood! Ah! I love it! This shall be another death laid to the wiles of Buffalo Bill. Now for the White Antelope, and then----

“There she comes! Now to catch her as she passes!”

He crouched behind his rocky shelter as he spoke, while the White Antelope, seemingly somewhat despondent, came riding slowly back toward the village. In truth, she had ridden to see if she could spy the coming of the Long Hair, who had promised to return. That strange man had gained a wonderful hold upon her mind. And, beside, she had a great secret to impart to him.

Suddenly the girl uttered a cry of alarm and tried to wheel her pony to dash away, for to her side had sprung the form of Boyd Bennett. But his rough hand effectually shut off her scream, he seized her in his arms, and, dragging her from the frightened pony’s back, he darted down a defile, unseen by any of the Indian guards.