The chief looked at her in surprise. He was not in the habit of having squaws contradict his word.
"White Wolf is his own master, and the chief of all the Pawnees! Why does the Blackfoot maiden say they shall not die?"
"Because they are dead already!" answered Snowdrop.
"Dead! Who killed them?"
"I killed one; Long Hunter the other," she replied.
White Wolf glared fiercely at her, as if he could kill her where she sat, but in a few moments the expression changed, and he said:
"I have rescued your father from the hands of the Sioux as I promised; now will Snowdrop go to the home of White Wolf, and be his squaw? She shall have as many slaves as she wants, and there shall be peace between the tribes. What says the queen of the Blackfeet?"
"That she does not love the great chief of the Pawnees, and can never enter his lodge," replied Snowdrop.
"Does she love some one else?"
"Yes, Snowdrop will be the wife of White Panther or marry no one!"