"The Scarlet Boy is right," he said, with as much graveness as a red-skin can conceive. "Sitting Bull listens to his words as he would to those of a brother. Scarlet Boy is no stranger in the land of the Sioux; he is the friend of the great chief and his warriors. Once when the storm-gods were at war over the pine forests and picture rocks of the Hills; when the Great Spirit was sending fiery messengers down in vivid streaks from the skies, the Big Chief cast a thunderbolt in playfulness at the feet of Sitting Bull. The shock of the hand of the Great Spirit did not escape me; for hours I lay like one slain in battle. My warriors were in consternation; they ran hither and thither in affright, calling on the Manitou to preserve their chief. You came, Scarlet Boy, in the midst of all the panic;--came, and though then but a stripling, you applied simple remedies that restored Sitting Bull to the arms of his warriors.[A] "From that hour Sitting Bull was your friend--is your friend, now, and will be as long as the red-men exist as a tribe." "Thank you, chief;" and Fearless Frank grasped the Indian's hand and wrung it warmly. "I believe you mean all you say. But I am surprised to find you engaged at such work as this. I have been told that Sitting Bull made war only on warriors--not on women." An ugly frown darkened the savage's face--a frown wherein was depicted a number of slumbering passions. "The pale-face girl is the last survivor of a train that the warriors of Sitting Bull attacked in Red Canyon. Sitting Bull lost many warriors; yon pale squaw shot down full a half-score before she could be captured; she belongs to the warriors of Sitting Bull, and not to the great chief himself." "Yet you have the power to free her--to yield her up to me. Consider, chief; are you not enough my friend that you can afford to give me the pale-face girl? Surely, she has been tortured sufficiently to satisfy your braves' thirst for vengeance." Sitting Bull was silent. "What will the Scarlet Boy do with the fair maiden of his tribe?" "Bear her to a place of safety, chief, and care for her until I can find her friends--probably she has friends in the East." "It shall be as he says. Sitting Bull will withdraw his braves and Scarlet Boy can have the red-man's prize." A friendly hand-shake between the youth and the Sioux chieftain, a word from the latter to the grim painted warriors, and the next instant the glade was cleared of the savages.