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.