he depths. Young as she was she realized that that ring of
sentries about her could mean but one thing. Now, when it was too late,
she recalled Seth's many warnings, and bitterly repented her unutterable
folly in ever going near this wild, untried young chieftain.

She kept silent. But the seconds that passed as the man rode up were
trying. He rode to within six inches of her, and their horses stood head
to tail. Then he spoke in his native Sioux tongue, which so lends itself
to the expression of ardent passion.

"The sun has no brightness like the eyes of the paleface princess," he
said, his proud face serious, and his eyes steady and flashing. There was
almost a flush under the dusky skin of his cheeks. "The waters of the
great lakes are deep, but the depth is as nothing to the blue of the
princess's eyes. She is queen of her race, as Little Black Fox is king of
his race. The king would wed the queen, whose eyes make little the
cloudless summer sky. He loves her, and is the earth beneath her feet. He
loves her, and all his race shall be her servants. He loves her, and all
that is his is hers. So there shall be everlasting peace with her people
and his. His heart is swept with a passion which is like to the fiercest
blizzard of the plain. But its blast is hot; hotter and swifter than the
fiercest heats of earth. There is no peace for him without the white
princess. He is ever at war. The body fights with the brain, and his heart
is torn. So he would wed the princess."

Even in her extremity something of the real passion of this wild youth
found a chord of sympathy in Rosebud's heart. His sincerity, his splendid
personality, savage though he was, made her listen attentively. The woman
in her was not insensible to his address, but the very truth of his
passion roused her fears again to the topmost pitch. There was no
mistaking those horsemen surrounding her. She gave one little helpless
glance around at them that surely would have melted the heart of any white
man. But the impassive faces held out no hope to her. She was at this
man's mercy.

Now, oddly enough, when she might have been expected to cry out in her
terror, her anger rose. That quick rising anger which Seth understood so
well and smiled at. And she spoke without a shadow of fear in her tone.
Her use of the Sioux tongue was not perfect, and her words gained force
therefrom.

"The princess cannot wed the chief," she said. "It is not according to the
law o