to me," he said. "An' kiddies ain't
bustin' with brain--generly. However, I don't reckon you're foolish. 'Cep'
when you git around that Reservation," he added thoughtfully.

There was a brief silence. The man avoided the violet eyes. He seemed
afraid to look at them. Rosebud's presence somehow made things hard for
him. Seth was a man whom long years of a life fraught with danger had
taught that careful thought must be backed up by steady determination.
There must be no wavering in any purpose. And this girl's presence made
him rebel against that purpose he had in his mind now.

"That has always been a trouble between us, hasn't it?" Rosebud said at
last. And her quiet manner drew her companion's quick attention. "But it
shan't be any more."

The man looked up now; this many-sided girl could still astonish him.

"You're quittin' the Reservation?" he said.

"Yes,--except the sewing and Sunday classes at the Mission," Rosebud
replied slowly. "But it's not on your account I'm doing it," she added
hastily, with a gleam of the old mischief in her eyes. "It's
because--Seth, why do the Indians hate you? Why does Little Black Fox hate
you?"

The man's inquiring eyes searched the bright earnest face looking down
upon him. His only reply was a shake of the head.

"I know," she went on. "It's on my account. You killed Little Black Fox's
father to save me."

"Not _to_ save you," Seth said. He was a stickler for facts. "_And_ saved
you."

"Oh, bother! Seth, you are stupid! It's on that account he hates you. And,
Seth, if I promise not to go to the Reservation without some one, will you
promise me not to go there without me? You see it's safer if there are
two."

Seth smiled at the naive simplicity of the suggestion. He did not detect
the guile at first. But it dawned on him presently and he smiled more. She
had said she was not going to visit the Reservation again.

"Who put these crazy notions into your head, Rosebud?" he asked.

"No one."

The girl's answer came very short. She didn't like being laughed at. And
she thought he was laughing at her now.

"Some one's said something," Seth persisted. "You see Little Black Fox has
hated me for six years. There is no more danger for me now than there was
when I shot Big Wolf. With you it's kind o' different. You see--you're
grown----"

"I see." Rosebud's resentment had passed. She understood her companion's
meaning. She had understood that she was "grown" before. Prese