You see the Indians were more hostile than ever, and they thought I would be safer at Kenegami House.

How I do wish they'd let me go! I'd love to hunt bears, and wolves, and moose, and help you find the gold.

Please coax him hard, Roderick!" And that very day, when he was strong enough to sit up, Rod did plead with his half-Indian comrade that Minnetaki might be allowed to accompany them.

But Wabi stanchly refused even to consider the proposition, and Mukoki, when he learned of the girl's desire, grinned and chuckled in his astonishment for the next half-hour.
"Minnetaki ver' brave--ver' brave girl," he confided to Rod, "but she die up there, I guess so! You want Minnetaki die ?" Rod assured him that he did not, and the subject was dropped.
That day and night in the old cabin was one of the pleasantest within Rod's memory, despite the youth's wound.

A cheerful fire of dry pine and poplar burned in the stone fireplace, and when Minnetaki announced that the evening meal was ready Rod was for the first time allowed to leave his bunk.