He reflected
that the omission might have arisen from their recollection of his
previous aversion to a retaliation on other prisoners. Enough that they
would wait his signal for the torture and execution at sunrise the next
day.
The night passed slowly. It is more than probable that the selfish and
ignoble torments of the sleepless and vacillating judge were greater
than those of the prisoner who dozed at the stake between his curses.
Yet it was part of Elijah's fatal weakness that his kinder and more
human instincts were dominated even at that moment by his lawless
passion for the Indian agent's wife, and his indecision as to the fate
of his captive was as much due to this preoccupation as to a selfish
consideration of her relations to the result. He hated the prisoner for
his infelicitous and untimely crime, yet he could not make up his mind
to his death. He paced the ground before his lodge in dishonorable
incertitude. The small eyes of the submissive Wachita watched him with
vague solicitude.
Toward morning he was struck by a shameful inspiration. He would creep
unperceived to the victim's side, unloose his bonds, and bid him fly to
the Indian agency. There he was to inform Mrs. Dall that her husband's
safety depended upon his absenting himself for a few days, but that
she was to remain and communicate with Elijah. She would understand
everything, perhaps; at least she would know that the prisoner's release
was to please her, but even if she did not, no harm would be done,
a white man's life would be saved, and his real motive would not be
suspected.
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