And you wear the Seminole dress of a chief--"
"Yes. After all, that was imprudent--"
"You can ride and shoot an arrow swift and far. Your eyes are keen and
your tread lithe and soft like a fawn--"
"It is all the wild lore of the woodland I learned as a child."
"But Sho-caw does not know! To him the gypsy heart of you, the
sun-brown skin and scarlet cheeks, the night-black hair beneath the
turban, are but the lure and charm of an errant daughter of the
O-kee-fee-ne-kee wilderness. What wonder that he can not see you as
you are, a dark-eyed child of the race of white men!"
"I do not wonder."
"He has been grave and very deferential, gathered wood for you and
carried water. Yesterday there was a freshly killed deer at the door
of the wigwam. It is the first shy overture of the wooing Seminole."
"I know. Keela has told me. It has all frightened me a little. I--I
think I had better go away again."
"There was a time, in the days of Arcadia, when Philip would have
laughed, and a second deer would have lain at the door of your
wig-wam--"
"Philip is changed."
"He is quieter--"
"Yes."
"A little sterner--"
"Yes."
"Like one perhaps who has abandoned a dream!"
"I--do--not--know."
"Why does he ride away for days with Sho-caw?"
"I have wondered.
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