When night had fallen over the prairie, and the bull-frog and the
cricket filled the lower air with a confusing din of small sounds,
thirty dusky warriors, mounted upon their ponies, with Tall Elk and
Jean at their head, crossed over the ridge and struck out for White
Oaks. An hour's ride brought them to an elevation from which they saw
a light twinkling through the grove. Jean's small eyes were gleaming
with foul expectation--he was thinking of his lovely booty, safe
under the lock and key of his hideous little Metis mother.
"Let us spread our force now, chief," he whispered to Tall Elk. And
we leave them drawing their circle of horses, stealthily and swiftly,
around the silent cottage.