His Cheyenne scouts were soon about him, mounted and armed for the chase, and with a few orders to the two left behind to still guard the trail and await any courier that might arrive, the officer sprang into his saddle and darted away in hot pursuit. The Sioux had now all of a mile the start, but Kit Carey knew that their ponies must be well worn after the ride they had had, and his animals were comparatively fresh. At a sweeping gallop they went along, the Sioux in full sight, and the pursuers steadily gaining upon them. But Red Hatchet was as cunning as he was brave, and he would not force his ponies to full speed, knowing they could not last long at that pace. He took in, too, that they could not be readily flanked from the nature of the ground, and counting the men on his track he saw that where he had thirty braves Kit Carey had fourteen. Under ordinary circumstances he would have halted and taken some Cheyenne scalps, confident of his ability to do so, for he hated these Indian allies of the whites most bitterly. But with that tall form in the lead, with his darkly-bronzed, fearless, handsome face, his deadly aim and desperate courage even Red Hatchet dared not halt to fight back a force only half his own in strength. He knew those men as the captors and slayers of Sitting Bull, the mighty chief, and he was well aware that the White War Eagle did not count numbers when there was work to be done. So he would hold on in his flight until a chance came to ambush his pursuers, and while his captive was sent on under two trusted warriors, he would remain to fight the White War Eagle with the advantage of position added to numbers. "Let the White War Eagle follow, and he will run into an ambush, and his scalp hang at the belt of the Red Hatchet," said the chief to Jennie, whose heart sank within her at the danger that the daring officer must encounter in his effort to rescue her. CHAPTER XXIX. KIT CAREY'S RESOLVE. At first a thrill of joy ran through the heart of Jennie Woodbridge, as she is now known to be, when she saw that Lieutenant Carey was in pursuit. But when a bend in the trail placed the Sioux in a position to see their pursuers well, she discovered how small was the force the officer had with him, and at once she felt the greatest dread of evil befalling him. If she could have warned him back she would have done so, and she rode along by the side of the Sioux chief plotting in her mind to suddenly dash away, and by making her escape thus prevent Lieutenant Carey from running into an ambush. Whether the chief suspected her intention or not, he suddenly leaned forward and took her bridle rein in his firm grasp. Pretending to misunderstand it, she said, as calmly as she could: "No, my horse will not fall, Red Hatchet, you need not hold the rein." "Horse very fast, and if he ran away Indian pony could not catch him," was the significant response. At last the Sioux chief saw where he could gain his advantage.