第15章

"Somewhere with the squaws, I reckon.I thought she might be a little skeered of the braves, and I've kept them away.SHE'S all right, you know; only if you intend to stay here long I'd"--But Peter was already striding away in the direction of a thicket of cottonwood where he heard the ripple of women's and children's voices.When he had penetrated it, he found his sister sitting on a stump, surrounded by a laughing, gesticulating crowd of young girls and old women, with a tightly swaddled papoose in her lap.

Some of them had already half mischievously, half curiously possessed themselves of her dust cloak, hat, parasol, and gloves, and were parading before her in their grotesque finery, apparently as much to her childish excited amusement as their own.She was even answering their gesticulations with equivalent gestures in her attempt to understand them, and trying amidst shouts of laughter to respond to the monotonous chant of the old women who were zigzagging a dance before her.With the gayly striped blankets lying on the ground, the strings of beads, wampum, and highly colored feathers hanging from the trees, and the flickering lights and shadows, it was an innocent and even idyllic picture, but the more experienced Peter saw in the performances only the uncertain temper and want of consecutive idea of playing animals, and the stolid unwinking papoose in his sister's lap gave his sentiment a momentary shock.

Seeing him approach she ran to meet him, the squaws and children slinking away from his grave face."I have had such a funny time, Peter! Only to think of it, I believe they've never seen men or women with decent clothes before,--of course the settlers' wives don't dress much,--and I believe they'd have had everything Ipossess if you hadn't come.But they're TOO funny for anything.

It was killing to see them put on my hat wrong side before, and try to make one out of my parasol.But I like them a great deal better than those gloomy chiefs, and I think I understand them almost.

And do you know, Peter, somehow I seem to have known them all before.And those dear little papooses, aren't they ridiculously lovely.I only wish"--she stopped, for Peter had somewhat hurriedly taken the Indian boy from her arms and restored it to the frightened mother.A singular change came over her face, and she glanced at him quickly.But she resumed, with a heightened color, "I like it ever so much better here than down at the fort.And ever so much better than New York.I don't wonder that you like them so much, Peter, and are so devoted to them.Don't be angry, dear, because I let them have my things; I'm sure I never cared particularly for them, and I think it would be such fun to dress as they do." Peter remembered keenly his sudden shock at her precipitate change to bright colors after leaving her novitiate at the Sacred Heart."I do hope," she went on eagerly, "that we are going to stay a long time here.""We are leaving to-morrow," he said curtly."I find I have urgent business at the fort."And they did leave.None too soon, thought Peter and the Indian agent, as they glanced at the faces of the dusky chiefs who had gathered around the cabin.Luckily the presence of their cavalry escort rendered any outbreak impossible, and the stoical taciturnity of the race kept Peter from any verbal insult.But Mrs.Lascelles noticed their lowering dissatisfaction, and her eyes flashed."I wonder you don't punish them," she said simply.

For a few days after their return she did not allude to her visit, and Peter was beginning to think that her late impressions were as volatile as they were childlike.He devoted himself to his government report, and while he kept up his communications with the reservation and the agent, for the present domiciled himself at the fort.

Colonel Bryce, the commandant though doubtful of civilians, was not slow to appreciate the difference of playing host to a man of Atherly's wealth and position and even found in Peter's reserve and melancholy an agreeable relief to the somewhat boisterous and material recreations of garrison life, and a gentle check upon the younger officers.For, while Peter did not gamble or drink, there was yet an unobtrusive and gentle dignity in his abstention that relieved him from the attitude of a prig or an "example." Mrs.

Lascelles was popular with the officers, and accepted more tolerantly by the wives, since they recognized her harmlessness.

Once or twice she was found apparently interested in the gesticulations of a few "friendlies" who had penetrated the parade ground of the fort to barter beads and wampum.The colonel was obliged at last to caution her against this, as it was found that in her inexperience she had given them certain articles that were contraband of the rules, and finally to stop them from an intrusion which was becoming more frequent and annoying.Left thus to herself, she relieved her isolation by walks beyond the precincts of the garrison, where she frequently met those "friendly" wanderers, chiefly squaws and children.Here she was again cautioned by the commander,--"Don't put too much faith in those creatures, Mrs.Lascelles."Jenny elevated her black brows and threw up her arched nose like a charger."I'm not afraid of old women and children," she said loftily.

"But I am," said the colonel gravely."It's a horrible thing to think of, but these feeble old women and innocent children are always selected to torture the prisoners taken by the braves, and, by Jove, they seem to like it."Thus restricted, Mrs.Lascelles fell back upon the attentions of Lieutenant Forsyth, whose gallantry was always as fresh as his smart cadet-like tunics, and they took some rides together.