“My father wished--indeed, I don’t really know, but it must not be lost.”
“I will take care of it. And now we must leave this place. The Arapahoes have been badly whipped, and are scattered over the country; but they will get together again, and they may give us trouble. You can’t move, I see, Wilder, but you can be carried, no doubt.”
Wilder looked at Flora, and muttered the name of Dove-eye.
Flora told him, in a few words, about the Indian girl, and explained the reason of Wilder’s anxiety concerning her.
“We will go and look for her,” said Benning. “She can’t be far away. You will be safe with me now, and White Shield can stay and take care of Silverspur.”
George Benning searched faithfully for Dove-eye. He was so glad to learn that he had not to fear Wilder as a rival, that he thought he could not do too much to help that young gentleman to the dusky maiden upon whom he had really set his heart.
But all their search was in vain. With Flora to guide him, he ransacked the empty lodge, and hunted in every nook and crevice among the rocks. Flora made the hills echo with the name of her friend, and Benning pressed into the search all the Crows he met, but no trace could be found of Dove-eye or the old medicine-man.
Wilder knew, as soon as they entered the cave, that the Indian girl had not been found. The sorrowful countenance of Flora told him this, and he felt as one who has sustained a great loss.
“You need tell me nothing about it,” he said. “I felt sure that it would be so. She is lost, and here I am, on my back, more helpless than a child.”
“You are not helpless while we are here to help you,” replied Benning. “White Shield and I will do all that any man can do; but we can stay here no longer. The Crows are anxious to leave, and we will only have time to make a litter to carry you in.”
“Never mind me. Leave me here. I am of no use to myself or any one else, and I may as well die here as elsewhere.”
“You must go with us,” protested Flora. “Do you suppose I could think of leaving you here to die--you, who saved me from the Blackfeet, and who have been so kind to me? You will soon get well if you go with us, and you would be sure to perish here.”
“I have no wish to go. I had rather be left here. Dove-eye will return when you are gone, and I will see her.”