"Why do you say that, Heraka?"
"Because they are all dead. Their scalps are drying at the belts of the warriors. You alone live as we had to strike you down in silence before we slew the others."
Will shuddered over and over again. He was sick at both heart and brain. Could it be true? Could those men be dead? The wise Boyd, the cheerful Little Giant, and the grave and kindly Brady? Once more he looked Heraka straight in the eye, but the gaze of the chief did not waver.
"I have hope, though but a little hope," he said, "that it pleases the chief to test me. He would see whether I can bear such news."
"If the belief helps you then Heraka will not try again to make you see the truth. What is your name?"
"Clarke, William Clarke."
"Why have you come to the land of the Dakotas?"
"Not to take it. Not to kill the buffalo. Not to drive away any of your people."
"But you are captured upon it. The great chief, Mahpeyalute, warned the American captain and the soldiers that they must not let the white people come any farther."
"That is true. I was there, and I heard Red Cloud give the warning."