When the order was
obeyed, he motioned for all his sons to advance, and he placed them in
a row before the eyes of Ellen. "Now let there be no trifling, but
open your heart. Here ar' all I have to offer, besides a hearty
welcome."
The distressed girl turned her abashed look from the countenance of
one of the young men to that of another, until her eye met the
troubled and working features of Paul. Then nature got the better of
forms. She threw herself into the arms of the bee-hunter, and
sufficiently proclaimed her choice by sobbing aloud. Ishmael signed to
his sons to fall back, and evidently mortified, though perhaps not
disappointed by the result, he no longer hesitated.
"Take her," he said, "and deal honestly and kindly by her. The girl
has that in her which should make her welcome, in any man's house, and
I should be loth to hear she ever came to harm. And now I have settled
with you all, on terms that I hope you will not find hard, but, on the
contrary, just and manly. I have only another question to ask, and
that is of the Captain; do you choose to profit by my teams in going
into the settlements, or not?"
"I hear, that some soldiers of my party are looking for me near the
villages of the Pawnees," said Middleton, "and I intend to accompany
this chief, in order to join my men.
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