"The Red Hatchet is ready to obey."
"If the Red Hatchet will go near to my house I will see that he finds the Snow Flower. Let him carry her to his people in the Bad Lands, and there keep her until I come for her. If the Red Hatchet will do this for me he shall find me the true friend of himself and his people, and the soldiers shall not harm them. But the Red Hatchet must remember that the Snow Flower shall not be harmed by his people, for she is the daughter of his friend the white chief, and the sister of his friend Herbert. Does he understand that it is only to keep the Snow Flower from running away with a soldier chief that he is to hide her away among his people, where she cannot escape."
"The Red Hatchet understands and will obey. The Snow Flower shall know no harm, for she is the friend of the Sioux. And the Red Hatchet's friend will let the Sioux know when the soldiers come closer upon them?"
"Yes."
The chief stretched forth his hand in token that it was a compact, and grasping it Herbert Bernard said a few more words in explanation of his plan, and mounting his horse rode back toward the ranch.
And Red Hatchet and his band slowly followed upon his trail.
CHAPTER XXVII.
When upon his return to the ranch, the keen, ever-watchful eyes of Herbert Bernard had seen Jennie coming along the trail.