“I should like you to be in charge,” she said. “And yet--there must be no fighting if it can be avoided! Blood must not be shed in this place. It is sacred to me, and to the red men----” As though to resolve her doubts, a thin, high yell arose from the forest below, where the green trees ran into hilly country. At sound of this yell, a delighted grunt went up from the Dacotah. One of them spoke out. “That is the scalp-yell of Standing Bull; he has counted coup. _Was-te!_ Good!” “I leave everything in your hands,” said the girl hastily, an expression of despair flitting across her face. She turned to the warriors, ordered them to obey Crawford, and then walked in among the trees and vanished in the direction of her own abode. Frontin glanced after her with his darkly sardonic gaze, and shrugged. “The olden fanes fall crumbling, the chatter of priests and the mystery of woman alike are withered and desolate in the breath of ambition,” he murmured. “That crooked pine tree under which you lay, my cap’n, was a sacred tree among these people; blood must not touch this ground. Well, all that is ended! The white man has come into the land, and oddly enough he reveres the same symbol--a crooked Tree. The difference is, that his is stained with blood----” Frontin broke off abruptly, as though fearing to trace his thought farther. “Forget your moralizing and get to work,” said Crawford curtly. He walked over to Old Bear, and the Teton chief grinned at him in recognition. “Old Bear, put your warriors to work! A barricade must be laid across this narrow ground to-night. Frontin, have we any guns?” “Half a dozen,” said Frontin. “Standing Bull and his scouts are using them. Will you have the barricade laid with bastions and chevaux-de-frise in approved fashion----” “Any way at all, so it be laid,” said Crawford. “What water and food have we?” “A spring, and a fair stock of meat and corn.” The warriors fell to work, with Old Bear and Frontin ordering them. Crawford walked across to the Mohegan, who met his eyes and chuckled. “My brother is well again; that is good! His medicine is strong. To-morrow he shall see how a chief of the Loup nation dies, that he may tell Metaminens the story.” “We’ll not die to-morrow,” said Crawford. “No word has come from Perrot or from the Dacotah to the south?” “None. The place here is surrounded and cut off. Ah! Here is Standing Bull!” Across the neck of ground appeared the old Dacotah chief, a number of warriors following with shrill yelps. He came to where Crawford stood, and a flash of exultation was in his eyes, as he touched the red object at his belt. “We have taught the Stone Men a lesson,” he said. “My brother is well? Good. Did I not say that his medicine would bring him here?” Crawford laughed. “You old rascal! I half believe you were right about it. You have left scouts to watch the enemy?” “Yes. The Stone Men are making camp and cooking meat. Red Bull is with them.”