and give her up
myself!"

They had remounted their horses, and were pacing leisurely along
toward the rendezvous, keeping a sharp lookout for the Indian woman;
but at this startling statement the Sun Maid reined up short, and
demanded:

"What--do--you--mean?"

"Just exactly what I say. I'm going to give her up and get the money."

Kitty could not speak; and with a perplexity that was not at all
comfortable to himself, the lad returned her astonished gaze.

"Then--you--are--just--as--mean--as--Mercy--Smith!"

"I am not mean at all! Don't you say it. Don't you understand? I
do--or I thought I did. It's this way. She can't be given up but once,
can she? Well, I'll do it, instead of an enemy."

"You--wicked--boy! I can't believe it! I won't! You shall not do it;
never!"

"Oh, don't be silly! Of course, I'll not keep the money. I'll give it
right back to her. Then she can do what she likes with it--make a nice
new wigwam near the Fort, and she can get lots of skins, or even
canvas, there. Come, let's ride on."

But there was a silence between them for some time, and the scheme
that had seemed so brilliant, when it had originated in Gaspar's mind,
began to lose something of its glitter under the clear questioning
gaze of the Sun Maid.

It was fast falling twilight when they came to the sandhills; and
though, by all reckoning, Wahneenah should have been long awaiting
them there was no sign of the familiar Chestnut or its beloved rider.

"Gaspar, will Wahneenah understand it? Will she believe it is right
for you to do what is wrong for another to do? Will the soldier men
pay you--just a boy, so--the money, real money, for her, anyway?"

Gaspar lost his patience, with which he was not greatly blessed.

"Kit, I wish you wouldn't keep thinking of things. I didn't tell Other
Mother, of course. She might--she might not have been pleased. I acted
for the best. That's the way men always have to do."

The argument was not as convincing to the Sun Maid as she herself
would have liked; but she trusted Gaspar, and tried to put the money
question aside, while she strained her eyes to search the darkening
landscape for the missing one.

But there was no trace of her anywhere; even though Gaspar dismounted
and scanned the sward for fresh tracks, as his Indian friends had
taught him; and when, at length, he felt compelled to hasten to the
Fort and seek its shelter for the Sun Maid, his young heart was heavy
with foreboding