The winter stole upon the plains; that hard, relentless winter which knows
no yielding till spring drives it forth. First the fierce black frosts,
then the snow, and later the shrieking blizzard, battling, tearing for
possession of the field, carrying death in its breath for belated man and
beast, and sweeping the snow into small mountains about the lonely prairie
dwellings as though, in its bitter fury at the presence of man, it would
bury them out of sight where its blast proved powerless to destroy them.
Christmas and New Year were past, that time of peace and festivity which
is kept up wherever man sojourns, be it in city or on the plains.

Through these dark months Seth and Rube worked steadily on building their
stockade, hauling the logs, cutting, splitting, joining. The weather made
no difference to them. The fiercest storm disturbed them no further than
to cause them to set a life-line from house to barn, or to their work,
wherever that might be. No blizzard could drive them within doors when
work was to be done. This was the life they knew, they had always lived,
and they accepted it uncomplainingly, just as they accepted the fruits of
the earth in their season.

No warning sound came from the Indians. The settlers forgot the recent
episode, forgot the past, which is the way of human nature, and lived in
the present only, and looked forward happily to the future.

Seth and Rube minded their own affairs. They were never the ones to croak.
But their vigilance never relaxed. Seth resumed his visits to the
Reservation as unconcernedly as though no trouble had ever occurred. He
went on with his Sunday work at the Mission, never altering his tactics by
one iota. And in his silent way he learned all that interested him.

He learned of Little Black Fox's protracted recovery, his lately developed
moroseness. He knew whenever a council of chiefs took place, and much of
what passed on these occasions. The presence of Nevil Steyne at such
meetings was a matter which never failed to interest him. He was rarely
seen in the company of the Agent, yet a quiet understanding existed
between them, and he frequently possessed news which only Parker could
have imparted.

So it was clearly shown that whatever the general opinion of the settlers,
Seth, and doubtless Rube also, had their own ideas on the calm of those
winter months, and lost no opportunity of verifying them.

New Year found the ponderous stockade round the farm on