The fire in the center of the apartment was burning low, but it revealed the form of Lina Aiken, stretched upon Red Eagle’s couch, fast asleep and dreaming, with a smile on her ripe lips.
For several minutes Winnesaw stood undecided over the sleeping one, and then, stooping, she gently touched Lina’s rosy cheek.
The Gold Girl started up with a frightened look.
“Why, Winnesaw, how you frightened me!” she exclaimed, smiling, as she recognized the face above her. “I was dreaming, and you broke my dream in the most bewitching part.”
“Winnesaw sorry to wake Gold Girl,” said the Pawnee maiden; “but she may dream of spirit-land again when she has told her white sister what she saw to-night.”
Lina Aiken instantly became on the alert, and Winnesaw smiled at her eagerness, which drove every vestige of slumber from her eyes.
“What has Winnesaw seen?” she questioned, grasping the girl’s arm, and speaking in a tone which caused the Pawnee to shake her head.
“Guards not asleep,” she whispered, glancing fearfully at the door. “The Pawnee village is full of red traitors; they seem to outnumber the flowers of the prairies. Winnesaw saw and heard them to-night; they talk low, but are as bold as the Sioux.” And then she told Lina Aiken about the conference between White Lasso and Wolf Eyes, and the subsequent actions of the latter.
“What does it all mean?” asked the Gold Girl.
“Cheatery.”