'Damn you,' he said in a soft, sinister whisper, which had often aided him better than muscular strength, 'I AM THE WHITE CHIEF! Stand aside, and let me pass.'
'Never!' Then she compressed her lips fiercely.
He clenched his fists and made a menacing movement. 'Come away from that door!'
'You shall not pass.'
Then she locked the door and drew forth the key.
'It will have to be over your body. The choice is yours.'
She raised a denouncing finger, and met him with the single word, 'Traitor!'
He was cool again now. 'Too late for that,' he began, but her passion was fully aroused.
'See! Those men are waiting outside for a signal. They have come to arrest you. I shall see you hung at Regina, if the people do not kill you here.'
Her concluding words were almost drowned in a crash of thunder. A lurid picture of the bloodthirsty lynchers, with a prospect of horrible death by burning, flashed across his mental vision. Weakness returned, and he trembled.