But, Red Pine, a cruel chief of the Sioux, had seen her, and with him, to see her was to covet her; so he did not ask the consent of any one, but, watching his chance when the Blackfeet were nearly all gone on a hunt, and Gray Eagle was confined by sickness, he had stolen her away.
Gray Eagle had followed on the trail, and when within rifle-shot of the Sioux, had met with the accident already narrated.
Red Pine, seeing the fall of Gray Eagle, immediately slackened his speed so as to save his horse as much as possible; for the chase had been a long one, and they were now fully thirty miles from the Blackfoot village. But he would not have ridden so slowly had he known who was upon his trail in the place of Gray Eagle.
"Would Snowdrop like to rest?" he asked.
The only reply he received was a flash of scorn from the wondrously black eyes of the captive.
"Ugh!" he grunted. "Snowdrop mad now, but by-and-by Red Pine make her talk!"
Snowdrop looked back to see what had become of her father, as she could no longer hear the sound of his horse's feet.
Red Pine also looked back and saw, what she evidently did not, that a well-armed and well-mounted white man was upon his trail. Furiously he lashed the horses ridden by himself and Snowdrop, and once more they flew down the rough valley.
Not long before he had received a severe chastisement at the hands of a party of white men, and he actually dreaded this single man who was now in pursuit of him more than he would have done the whole Blackfoot nation.
Lash as he would, his pursuer rapidly gained upon him. He stopped his horse, and placing himself behind Snowdrop, he drew her to him so that her form covered his breast, and drawing his knife, held it above her breast, resolved to kill her rather than give her up.