“The heart has never yet failed me,” I returned, striving to speak cheerfully, feeling that he would like to hear hearty English words again.  “I am glad to behold you safely recovered, friend; that was a hard crack they landed on your skull.”

“’T is not the will of the Almighty that I ignominiously perish at the hands of the heathen,” he responded in his old manner, and as his voice roared out, not unlike a clap of thunder in that silence, I observed how the savages about us started.  “Again, and yet again hath He miraculously delivered his servant from the mouth of the lion.  Surely He must yet have labor for me in His vineyard; perchance the bearing unto these children of Amalek the message of peace.”

“Do you propose preaching unto them?”

“Ay, why not?  Inspired thereunto by the Spirit, I have already sought serious converse with yonder priest of Baal, kneeling at this side of that accursed shrine of idolatry.  Yet so wedded is he to idols of wood and stone, he merely chattered back at me in unintelligible speech, and when I laid hand upon him to compel him to listen, the brown savage beyond grievously thrust me with a spear.  But I retain faith that the Lord, in His own time, will open up a way unto their rebellious and sinful hearts.”

“Such way may be opened, yet I fear these savages will only take unkindly your efforts at ministry, even if they permit opportunity for the carrying on of such work.”

“I should be overjoyed to minister unto them with the sharp edge of a steel blade,” interposed De Noyan decidedly, and I noticed him for the first time, lying beyond his wife.  “What do you expect, Master Benteen, these villains will do to us?”

“I read no sign of mercy in any face yet seen,” I answered cautiously.  “It would be against all savage nature to forgive the loss of those warriors sent home this day.”

“You look for death?”

“I expect nothing less, and by torture; still they may permit us the slight chance of the gantlet, although I know not the war customs of the tribe.”

He subsided into silence, as though my words merely echoed his own gloomy thought, and for a few moments no sound arose except the dismal droning of the priests about the altar.  Then Cairnes silently pushed over toward me what remained of their evening meal, and I forgot gloomy forebodings in a new realization of hunger.  It was while thus busily engaged Madame spoke to me, whispering her words softly, so that they could not reach the ears of the others.

“If the end prove according to our fears, could you outline my probable fate?”

No lack of courage prompted the question, I could perceive that in her eyes as they looked into my own, and some way their expression yielded me boldness to answer truthfully.

“I am afraid, Madame, you may be spared,” I said gravely.

Her hands closed down tightly about each other.