"Grey, Zane - Betty Zane" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grey Zane)

"You are a child," said he, with a thrill in his deep voice "I hope you may
always be as you are to-day, in heart, at least."

"It grows late. See, the shadows are falling. We must go."

"You know I am going away to-morrow. I don't want to go. Perhaps that is why I
have been such poor company today. I have a presentiment of evil I am afraid I
may never come back."

"I am sorry you must go."

"Do you really mean that?" asked Alfred, earnestly, bending toward her "You
know it is a very dangerous undertaking. Would you care if I never returned?"

She looked up and their eyes met. She had raised her head haughtily, as if
questioning his right to speak to her in that manner, but as she saw the
unspoken appeal in his eyes her own wavered and fell while a warm color crept
into her cheek.

"Yes, I would be sorry," she said, gravely. Then, after a moment: "You must
portage the canoe round the falls, and from there we can paddle back to the
path."

The return trip made, they approached the house. As they turned the corner
they saw Colonel Zane standing at the door talking to Wetzel.

They saw that the Colonel looked pale and distressed, and the face of the
hunter was dark and gloomy.

"Lew, did you get my turkey?" said Betty, after a moment of hesitation. A
nameless fear filled her breast.

For answer Wetzel threw back the flaps of his coat and there at his belt hung
a small tuft of black hair. Betty knew at once it was the scalp-lock of an
Indian. Her face turned white and she placed a hand on the hunter's arm.

"What do you mean? That is an Indian's scalp. Lew, you look so strange. Tell
me, is it because we went off in the canoe and have been in danger?"

"Betty, Isaac has been captured again," said the Colonel.

"Oh, no, no, no," cried Betty in agonized tones, and wringing her hands. Then,
excitedly, "Something can be done; you must pursue them. Oh, Lew, Mr. Clarke,
cannot you rescue him? They have not had time to go far."

"Isaac went to the chestnut grove this morning. If he had stayed there he
would not have been captured. But he went far into the Black Forest. The
turkey call we heard across the creek was made by a Wyandot concealed in the
cave. Lewis tells me that a number of Indians have camped there for days. He
shot the one who was calling and followed the others until he found where they