"You are to see the Red Hatchet and claim your sister, as he supposes her to be." "Yes." "But you are to arrange with him, if he is willing to give her up, so that it appears as though you rescued her from him." "I understand." "If he refuses to give her up----" "Yes, father." "Then return, and I will go." "And you expect to accomplish what I fail to do?" "If you fail, then I will get the girl, never fear." "You speak confidently." "I speak from a full knowledge of what my power is, boy. Now, come to me to-night, and I will prepare you for your journey, and before dawn you must enter the lines of the hostiles." "I understand fully," was the response of the young settler. That night what appeared to be an Indian chief rode away from the ranch of Settler Bernard, and he took the trail to the Bad Lands. He went along at a canter, as though anxious to reach his destination in the shortest possible time, and once well away from the ranch, deserted the trails, and rode across country. Before dawn the plateaus of the Bad Lands arose before him, and he seemed to know well his way, for he did not hesitate, but held straight on into the country of the hostiles, where it was certain death for a pale-face to go; the horseman was not an Indian, but Herbert Bernard, who had boldly made his venture to rescue Jennie from the Sioux chief, in whose keeping he had made the sad mistake of intrusting her. CHAPTER XXXIV. THE SIOUX CAPTIVE. When Jennie Woodbridge, who was flying along by the side of Red Hatchet, her Sioux captor, saw the arrangements made to ambush Kit Carey and his small band in pursuit of the hostiles, her heart sank within her with dread. She felt more for the officer just then than she did for herself, and so asked the Sioux chief if his gratitude toward the white captain, for releasing him as he had done, would not cause him to spare the man who had treated him well. But Red Hatchet had no mercy in his composition, and, in spite of "fairy tales" to the contrary of the Indian, from the "Last of the Mohicans" to the Apaches, had very little gratitude in his make-up. So on sped the fair captive with her two guards, while Red Hatchet remained in the ravine to wipe out his pursuers in one well-directed volley. That Kit Carey foiled him in this has been seen, and as the chief supposed that the officer and his men had gone into camp among the rocks to make a stand there, he determined upon capturing him at night. He called his braves about him, twenty-eight in number, and told them that they were two to one against those among the rocks, and by slipping up, under cover of the darkness, and making a dash upon the little band, they would have it all their own way. A few would fall, but the survivors would avenge them, and the harvest of scalps would more than compensate for the loss of half a dozen or so.