girl had gone from the woman talking now.

"Sun-dances. They're doin' it at night to cover their tracks. The Injuns
are gettin' wise."

"You mean?"

There was no avoiding the sharp, direct questioning.

"We're goin' to git it, and when it comes it'll be--sudden. Sudden an'
bad. It's both Reservations. All of 'em."

Rosebud was silent. Her wide open eyes were on the lights, but her
thoughts were on other things,--so many other things, that her head
whirled. At last she spoke again, in a tense, nervous manner.

"Tell me about it. Tell me all."

Seth shook his head.

"Ther' ain't a deal."

"Tell me."

"See you, Rosie, ef I go out o' here presently, will you jest close these
gates an' fix 'em? An' will you be up to open 'em for me?"

"Yes. But tell me."

Seth gazed at the horizon again.

"As I said, ther' ain't much," he began presently. "This has been goin' on
fer days. Ther's Injuns out most every night, an' they are lyin' this side
o' the fort. They're all about it, an' them soldier-fellers ain't wise to
it. What's more we darsen't to put 'em wise. They're li'ble to butt right
in, an' then ther' won't be any stoppin' them pesky redskins. Y' see
ther's only a handful at the fort, an' the Injuns could eat 'em."

"Yes, you always said it was a mistake to bluff with soldiers so near the
Reservation. I suppose the Indians resent their presence. Is that it?"

"Mebbe."

"There's another reason?"

"Can't rightly say."

Rosebud knew that the man was prevaricating.

She stood lost in thought for some moments. And as she thought a sudden
light came to her. She drew closer to her companion and laid one hand on
his arm.

"I think I see, Seth," she said, and then became silent.

The man moved, and his action was almost a rebuff. That touch had stirred
him. The gentle pressure of her hand sent the blood coursing through his
veins, and he restrained the hot, passionate words that sprang to his
lips only with a great effort. The girl accepted his movement as a rebuff
and shrank away. But she spoke vehemently.

"If I'd only thought--oh, if I'd only thought! I should have known. All
that has gone before should have told me. It is my coming back that has
precipitated matters." Her voice had sunk to a low tone of humility and
self-accusation. "And, Seth, now I understand why you were shot. It was
Little Black Fox. And I, fool that I was, dared to show myself on the
Reservation. And he saw me. I might have known,