How!" he said and turned away towards the gate.
Some of his braves held back, the blackness of death in their looks.
He saw. "My knife is sharp," he said. "The woman is brave. She shall
live--go and fight Yellow Hawk, or starve and die."
Divining their misery, their hunger, and the savage thought that had come
to them, Sally had whispered to the factor's wife to bring food, and the
woman now came running out with two baskets full, and returned for more.
Sally ran forward among the Indians and put the food into their hands.
With grunts of satisfaction they seized what she gave, and thrust it into
their mouths, squatting on the ground. Arrowhead looked on stern and
immobile, but when at last she and the factor's wife sat down before the
braves with confidence and an air of friendliness, he sat down also;
yet, famished as he was, he would not touch the food. At last Sally,
realising his proud defiance of hunger, offered him a little lump of
pemmican and a biscuit, and with a grunt he took it from her hands and
ate it. Then, at his command a fire was lit, the pipe of peace was
brought out, and Sally and the factor's wife touched their lips to it,
and passed it on.
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