\ 
 
 BANCROFT 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 > 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 

 - 
 
THAT GIRL 
 
 MONTANA 
 
 BY 
 
 MARAH ELLIS RYAN, | < < 
 A// 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "THE BONDWOMAN," " TOLD IN THE HILLS," 
 "A PAGAN OF THE ALLEGHANIES," ETC. 
 
 CHICAGO AND NEW YORK : 
 RAND, McNALLY & COMPANY, 
 
 PUBLISHERS. 
 
Copyright, 1901, by Rand, McNally & Company. 
 
5 ^3-7 
 
 BANCROFT 
 
 THAT GIRL MONTANA. 
 
 PROLOGUE. 
 
 "That girl the murderer of a man of Lee Holly ! That 
 pretty little girl ? Bosh ! I don't believe it." 
 
 "I did not say she killed him ; I said she was suspected. 
 And even though she was cleared, the death of that rene- 
 gade adds one more to the mysteries of our new West. 
 But I think the mere suspicion that she did it entitles her 
 to a medal, or an ovation of some sort." 
 
 The speakers were two men in complete hunting cos- 
 tume. That they were strangers in the Northwest was 
 evidenced by the very lively interest they took in each 
 tit of local color in landscape or native humanity. Of 
 the latter, there was a most picturesque variety. There 
 were the Northern red men in their bright blankets, and 
 women, too, with their beadwork and tanned skins for 
 sale. A good market-place for these was this spot where 
 the Kootenai River is touched by the iron road that drives 
 from the lakes to the Pacific. The road runs along our 
 Northern boundary so close that it is called the "Great 
 Northern," and verily the land it touches is great in its 
 wildness and its beauty. 
 
 The two men, with their trophies of elk-horn and beaver 
 paws, with their scarred outfit and a general air of elation 
 gained from a successful "outing," tramped down to the 
 
2 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 little station after a last lingering view toward far hunt- 
 ing grounds. While waiting for the train bound eastward, 
 they employed their time in dickering with the Indian 
 moccasin-makers, of whom they bought arrows and gaily 
 painted bows of ash, with which to deck the wall of some 
 far-away city home. 
 
 While thus engaged, a little fleet of canoes was sighted 
 skimming down the river from that greater wilderness of 
 the North, penetrated at that time only by the pros- 
 pector, or a chance hunter ; for the wealth of gold in those 
 high valleys had not yet been more than hinted at, and 
 the hint had not reached the ears of the world. 
 
 Even the Indians were aroused from their lethargy, 
 and watched with keen curiosity the approaching canoes. 
 When from the largest there stepped forth a young girl 
 a rather remarkable-looking young girl there was a 
 name spoken by a tall Indian boatman, who stood near 
 the two strangers. The Indians nodded their heads, and 
 the name was passed from one to the other the name 
 'Tana a soft, musical name as they pronounced it. One 
 of the strangers, hearing it, turned quickly to a white 
 ranchman, who had a ferry at that turn of the river, and 
 asked if that was the young girl who had helped locate 
 the new gold find at the Twin Springs. 
 
 "Likely," agreed the ranchman. "Word came that 
 she was to cut the diggings and go to school a spell. A 
 Mr. Haydon, who represents a company that's to work 
 the mine, sent down word that a special party was to go 
 East over the road from here to-day ; so I guess she's one 
 of the specials. She came near going on a special to the 
 New Jerusalem, she did, not many days ago. I reckon 
 you folks heard how Lee Holly toughest man in the 
 
PROLOGUE 3 
 
 length of the Columbia was wiped off the living earth 
 by her last week." 
 
 "We heard she was cleared of it," assented the stranger. 
 
 "Yes, so she was, so she was cleared by an alibi, 
 sworn to by Dan Overton. You don't know Dan, I sup- 
 pose ? Squarest man you ever met ! And he don't have to 
 scratch gravel any more, either, for he has a third interest 
 in that Twin Spring find, and it pans out big. They say 
 the girl sold her share for two hundred thousand. She 
 doesn't look top-heavy over it, either." 
 
 And she did not. She walked between two men one a 
 short, rather pompous elderly man, who bore a slight re- 
 semblance to her, and whom she treated rather coolly. 
 
 "Of course I am not tired," she said, in a strong, musi- 
 cal voice. "I have been brought all the way on cushions, 
 so how could I be? Why, I have gone alone in a canoe 
 on a longer trail than we floated over, and I think I will 
 again some day. Max, there is one thing I want in this 
 world, and want bad ; that is, to get Mr. Haydon out on 
 a trip where we can't eat until we kill and cook our 
 dinner. He doesn't know anything about real comfort ; 
 he wants too many cushions." 
 
 The man she called Max bent his head and whispered 
 something to her, at which her face flushed just a little 
 and a tiny wrinkle crept between her straight, beautiful 
 brows. 
 
 "I told you not to say pretty things that way, just be- 
 cause you think girls like to hear them. I don't. Maybe 
 I will when I get civilized ; but Mr. Haydon thinks that is 
 a long ways ahead, doesn't he?" The wrinkle was gone 
 vanished in a quizzical smile, as she looked up into the 
 very handsome face of the young fellow. 
 
4 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "So do I," he acknowledged. "I have a strong desire, 
 especially when you snub me, to be the man to take you 
 on a lone trail like that. I will, too, some day." 
 
 "Maybe you will," she agreed. "But I feel sorry for 
 you beforehand." 
 
 She seemed a tantalizing specimen of girlhood, as she 
 stood there, a slight, brown slip of a thing, dressed in a 
 plain flannel suit, the color of her golden-brown short 
 curls. In her brown cloth hat the wings of a redbird 
 gleamed the feathers and her lips having all there was 
 of bright color about her; for her face was singularly 
 colorless for so young a girl. The creamy skin suggested 
 a pale-tinted blossom, but not a fragile one ; and the eyes 
 full eyes of wine-brown looked out with frank daring 
 on the world. 
 
 But for all the daring brightness of her glances, it was 
 not a joyous face, such as one would wish a girl of seven- 
 teen to possess. A little cynical curve of the red mouth, a 
 little contemptuous glance from those brown eyes, showed 
 one that she took her measurements of individuals 
 by a gauge of her own, and that she had not that guile- 
 less trust in human nature that is supposed to belong to 
 young womanhood. The full expression indicated an in- 
 dependence that seemed a breath caught from the wild 
 beauty of those Northern hills. 
 
 Her gaze rested lightly on the two strangers and their 
 trophies of the chase, on the careless ferryman, and the 
 few stragglers from the ranch and the cabins. These 
 last had gathered there to view the train and its people 
 as they passed, for the ties on which the iron rails rested 
 were still of green wood, and the iron engines of trans- 
 portation were recent additions to those lands of the far 
 North, and were yet a novelty. 
 
PROLOGUE 5 
 
 Over the faces of the white men her eyes passed care- 
 lessly. She did not seem much interested in civilized 
 men, even though decked in finer raiment than was usual 
 in that locality; and, after a cool glance at them all, she 
 walked directly past them and spoke to the tall Indian 
 who had first uttered her name to the others. 
 
 His face brightened when she addressed him ; but their 
 words were low, as are ever the words of an Indian 
 in converse, low and softly modulated; and the girl did 
 not laugh in the face of the native as she had when the 
 handsome young white man had spoken to her in softened 
 tones. 
 
 The two sportsmen gave quickened attention to her as 
 they perceived she was addressing the Indian in his own 
 language. Many gestures of her slim brown hands aided 
 her speech, and as he watched her face, one of the sports- 
 men uttered the impulsive exclamation at the beginning 
 of this story. It seemed past belief that she could have 
 committed the deed with which her name had been con- 
 nected, and of which the Kootenai valley had heard a 
 great deal during the week just passed. That it had be- 
 come the one topic of general interest in the community 
 was due partly to the personality of the girl, and partly 
 to the fact that the murdered man had been one of the 
 most notorious in all that wild land extending north and 
 west into British Columbia. 
 
 Looking at the frank face of the girl and hearing her 
 musical, decided tones, the man had a reasonable warrant 
 for deciding that she was not guilty. 
 
 "She is one of the most strongly interesting girls of 
 her age I have ever seen," he decided. "Girls of that age 
 generally lack character. She does not ; it impresses itself 
 on a man though she never speak a word to him. Wish 
 
6 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 she'd favor me with as much of her attention as she gives 
 that hulking redskin." 
 
 "It's a 'case,' isn't it?" asked his friend. "You'll be 
 wanting to use her as a centerpiece for your next novel ; 
 but you can't make an orthodox heroine of her, for 
 there must have been some reason for the suspicion that 
 she helped him 'over the range/ as they say out here. 
 There must have been something socially and morally 
 wrong about the fact that he was found dead in her cabin. 
 No, Harvey; you'd better write up the inert, inoffensive 
 red man on his native heath, and let this remarkable young 
 lady enjoy her thousands in modest content if the ghosts 
 let her." 
 
 "Nonsense!" said the other man, with a sort of im- 
 patience. "You jump too quickly to the conclusion that 
 there must be wrong where there is suspicion. But you 
 have put an idea into my mind as to the story. If I can 
 ever learn the whole history of this affair, I will make use 
 of it, and I'm not afraid of finding my pretty girl in the 
 wrong, either." 
 
 "I knew from the moment we heard who she was that 
 your impressionable nature would fall a victim, but you 
 can't write a story of her alone ; you will want your hero 
 and one or two other people. I suppose, now, that very 
 handsome young fellow with the fastidious get-up will 
 about suit you for the hero. He does look rather lover- 
 like when he addresses your girl with the history. Will 
 you pair them off?" 
 
 "I will let you know a year from now," returned the 
 man called Harvey. "But just now I am going to pay my 
 respects to the very well-fed looking elderly gentleman. 
 He seems to be the chaperon of the party. I have acquired 
 a taste for trailing things during our thirty days hunt in 
 
PROLOGUE 7 
 
 these hills, and I'm going to trail this trio, with the ex- 
 pectation of bagging a romance." 
 
 His friend watched him approach the elder gentleman, 
 and was obviously doubtful of the reception he would get, 
 for the portly, prosperous-looking individual did not seem 
 to have been educated in that generous Western atmos- 
 phere, where a man is a brother if he acts square and 
 speaks fair. Conservatism was stamped in the deep 
 corners of his small mouth, on the clean-shaven lips, and 
 the correctly cut side-whiskers that added width to his 
 fat face. 
 
 But the journalist proper, the world over, is ever a bit 
 of a diplomat. He has won victories over so many con- 
 servative things, and is daunted by few. When Harvey 
 found himself confronted by a monocle through which he 
 was coolly surveyed, it did not disturb him in the least 
 (beyond making it difficult to retain a grave demeanor 
 at the lively interest shown by the Indians in that fash- 
 ionable toy). 
 
 "Yes, sir yes, sir; I am T. J. Haydon, cf Phila- 
 delphia," acknowledged he of the glass disc, "but I don't 
 know you, sir." 
 
 "I shall be pleased to remedy that if you will allow me," 
 returned the other, suavely, producing a card which he 
 offered for examination. "You are, no doubt, acquainted 
 with the syndicate I represent, even if my name tells you 
 nothing. I have been hunting here with a friend for a 
 month, and intend writing up the resources of this dis- 
 trict. I have a letter of introduction to your partner, 
 Mr. Seldon, but did not follow the river so far as to 
 reach your works, though I've heard a good deal about 
 them, and imagine them interesting." 
 
8 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "Yes, indeed; very interesting very interesting from 
 a sportsman's or mineralogist's point of view," agreed the 
 older man, as he twirled the card in a disturbed, uncertain 
 way. "Do you travel East, Mr. Mr. Harvey? Yes? 
 Well, let me introduce Mr. Seldon's nephew he's a New 
 Yorker Max Lyster. Wait a minute and I'll get him 
 away from those beastly Indians. I never can under- 
 stand the attraction they have for the average tourist." 
 
 But when he reached Lyster he said not a word of 
 the despised reds ; he had other matters more important. 
 
 "Here, Max ! A most annoying thing has happened," 
 he said, hurriedly. "Those two men are newspaper fel- 
 lows, and one is going East on our train. Worse still 
 the one knows people I know. Gad! I'd rather lose a 
 thousand dollars than meet them now! And you must 
 come over and get acquainted. They've been here 
 a month, and are to write accounts of the life and 
 country. That means they have been here long enough 
 to hear all about 'Tana and that Holly. Do you under- 
 stand ? You'll have to treat them well, the best possible 
 pull wires even if it costs money, and fix it so that a 
 record of this does not get into the Eastern papers. And, 
 above and beyond everything else, so long as we are in 
 this depraved corner of the country, you must keep them 
 from noticing that girl Montana." 
 
 The young man looked across at the girl, and smiled 
 doubtfully. 
 
 "I'm willing to undertake any possible thing for you," 
 he said; "but, my dear sir, to keep people from noticing 
 'Tana is one of the things beyond my power. And if she 
 gives notice to all the men who will notice her, I've an idea 
 jealousy will turn my hair gray early. But come on and 
 introduce your man, and don't get in a fever over the 
 
PROLOGUE 9 
 
 meeting. I am so fortunate as to know more of the 
 journalistic fraternity than you, and I happen to be aware 
 that they are generally gentlemen. Therefore, you'd bet- 
 ter not drop any hints to them of monetary advantages in 
 exchange for silence unless you want to be beautifully 
 roasted by a process only possible in printer's ink/' 
 
 The older man uttered an exclamation of impatience, 
 as he led his young companion over to the sportsmen, who 
 had joined each other again; and as he effected the in- 
 troduction, his mind was sorely upset by dread of the two 
 gentlemanly strangers and 'Tana. 
 
 'Tana was most shamelessly continuing her confidences 
 with the tall Indian, despite the fact that she knew it was 
 a decided annoyance to her principal escort. Altogether 
 the evening was a trying one to Mr. T. J. Haydon. 
 
 The sun had passed far to the west, and the shadows 
 were growing longer under the hills there by the river. 
 Clear, red glints fell across the cool ripples of the water, 
 and slight chill breaths drifted down the ravines and told 
 that the death of summer was approaching. 
 
 Some sense of the beauty of the dying October day 
 seemed to touch the girl, for she walked a little apart and 
 picked a spray of scarlet maple leaves and looked from 
 them to the hills and the beautiful valley, where the red 
 and the yellow were beginning to crowd out the greens. 
 Yes, the summer was dying dying! Other summers 
 would come in their turn, but none quite the same. The 
 girl showed all the feeling of its loss in her face. In her 
 eyes the quick tears came, as she looked at the mountains. 
 The summer was dying; it was autumn's colors she held 
 in her hand, and she shivered, though she stood in the 
 sunshine. 
 
10 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 As she turned toward the group again, she met the 
 eyes of the stranger to whom Max was talking. He 
 seemed to have been watching her with a great deal of 
 interest, and her hand was raised to her eyes, lest a trace 
 of tears should prove food for curiosity. 
 
 "It was to one of Akkomi's relations I was talking," 
 she remarked to Mr. Haydon, when he questioned her. 
 "His little grandson is sick, and I would like to send him 
 something. I haven't money enough in my pocket, and 
 wish you would get me some." 
 
 After taking some money out of his purse for her, 
 he eyed the tall savage with disfavor. 
 
 "He'll buy bad whisky with it," he grumbled. 
 
 "No, he will not," contradicted the girl. "If a person 
 treats these Indians square, he can trust them. But if 
 a lie is told them, or a promise broken well, they get 
 even by tricking you if they can, and I can't say that I 
 blame them. But they won't trick me, so don't worry; 
 and I'm as sure the things will go to that little fellow 
 safely as though I took them." 
 
 She was giving the money and some directions to the 
 Indian, when a word from a squaw drew her attention to 
 the river. 
 
 A canoe had just turned the bend not a quarter of a 
 mile away, and was skimming the water with the swift- 
 ness of a swallow's dart. Only one man was in it, and he 
 was coming straight for the landing. 
 
 "Some miner rushing down to see the train go by," 
 remarked Mr. Haydon ; but the girl did not answer. Her 
 face grew even more pale, and her hands clasped each 
 other nervously. 
 
 "Yes," said the Indian beside her, and nodded to her 
 assuringly. Then the color swept upward over her face 
 
PROLOGUE 11 
 
 as she met his kindly glance, and drawing herself a lit- 
 tle straighter, she walked indifferently away. 
 
 The stolid red man did not look at all snubbed ; he only 
 pocketed the money she had given him, and looked after 
 her with a slight smile, accented more by the deepening 
 wrinkles around his black eyes than by any change about 
 the lips. 
 
 Then there was a low rumbling sound borne on the 
 air, and as the muffled whistle of the unseen train came to 
 them from the wilderness to the west, with one accord the 
 Indians turned their attention to their wares, and the 
 white people to their baggage. When the train slowed up 
 Mr. Haydon, barely waiting for the last revolution of the 
 wheels, energetically hastened the young girl up the 
 steps of the car nearest them. 
 
 "What's the hurry?" she asked, with a slight impa- 
 tience. 
 
 "I think," he replied quickly, "there is but a short 
 stop made at this station, and as there are several vacant 
 seats in this car, please occupy one of them until I have 
 seen the conductor. There may be some changes made 
 as to the compartments engaged for us. Until that is 
 decided, will you be so kind as to remain in this coach?" 
 
 She nodded rather indifferently, and looked around for 
 Max. He was gathering up some robes and satchels when 
 the older man joined him. 
 
 "We are not going to make the trip to Chicago in the 
 car with those fellows if it can be helped, Max," he in- 
 sisted, fussily; "we'll wait and see what car they are 
 booked for, and I'll arrange for another. Sorry I did 
 not get a special, as I first intended." 
 
 "But see here ; they are first-class fellows worth one's 
 
12 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 while to meet," protested Max; but the other shook his 
 head. 
 
 "Look after the baggage while I see the conductor. 
 'Tana is in one of the cars don't know which. We'll 
 go for her when we get settled. Now, don't argue. Time 
 is too precious." 
 
 And 'Tana! She seated herself rather sulkily, as she 
 was told, and looked at once toward the river. 
 
 The canoe was landing, and the man jumped to the 
 shore. With quick, determined strides, he came across 
 the land to the train. She tried to follow him with her 
 eyes, but he crossed to the other side of the track. 
 
 There was rather a boisterous party in the car two 
 men and two women. One of the latter, a flaxen-haired, 
 petite creature, was flitting from one side of the car to 
 the other, making remarks about the Indians, admiring 
 particularly one boy's beaded dress, and garnishing her 
 remarks with a good deal of slang. 
 
 "Say, Chub ! that boy's suit would be a great 'make-up' 
 for me in that new turn the jig, you know; new, too. 
 There isn't a song-and-dance on the boards done with 
 Indian make-up. Knock them silly in the East, where 
 they don't see reds. Now sing out, and tell me if it 
 wouldn't make a hit." 
 
 "Aw, Goldie, give us a rest on shop talk," growled the 
 gentleman called Chub. "If you'd put a little more gin- 
 ger into the good specialty you have, instead of depending 
 on wardrobe, you'd hit 'em hard enough. It ain't plans 
 that count, girlie it's work." 
 
 The "girlie" addressed accepted the criticism with easy 
 indifference, and her fair, dissipated face was only twisted 
 in a grimace, while she held one hand aloft and jingled 
 
PROLOGUE 13 
 
 the bangles on her bracelets as though poising a tam- 
 bourine. 
 
 "Better hustle yourself into the smoker again, Chubby 
 dear. It will take a half-dozen more cigars to put you in 
 your usual sweet frame of mind. Run along now. Ta-ta !" 
 
 The other woman seemed to think their remarks very 
 witty, especially when Chub really did arise and make his 
 way toward the smoker. Goldie then went back to the 
 window, where the Indians were to be seen. The quartet 
 were, to judge by their own frank remarks, a party of 
 variety singers and dancers who had been doing the Pa- 
 cific circuit, and were now booked for some Eastern 
 houses,, of which they spoke as "solid." 
 
 Some of the passengers had got out and were buying 
 little things from the Indians, as souvenirs of the country. 
 'Tana saw Mr. Haydon among them, in earnest conver- 
 sation with the conductor; saw Max, with his hand full 
 of satchels, suddenly reach out the other hand with a 
 great deal of heartiness and meet the man of the canoe. 
 
 He was not so handsome a man as Max, yet would 
 have been noticeable anywhere tall, olive-skinned, and 
 dark-haired. His dress had not the fashionable cut of 
 the young fellow he spoke to. But he wore his buckskin 
 jacket with a grace that bespoke physical strength and 
 independence; and when he pushed his broad-brimmed 
 gray hat back from his face, he showed a pair of dark 
 eyes that had a very direct glance. They were serious, 
 contemplative eyes, that to some might look even moody. 
 
 "There is a fellow with a great figure," remarked the 
 other woman of the quartet; "that fellow with the som- 
 brero; built right up from the ground, and looks like a 
 picture; don't he, Charlie?" 
 2 
 
H THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "I can't see him," complained Goldie, "but suppose it's 
 one of the ranchmen who live about here." Then she 
 turned and donated a brief survey to 'Tana. "Do you live 
 in this region?" she asked. 
 
 After a deliberate, contemptuous glance from the ques- 
 tioner's frizzed head to her little feet, 'Tana answered: 
 
 "No; do you?" 
 
 With this curt reply, she turned her shoulder very 
 coolly on the searcher for information. 
 
 Vexation sent the angry blood up into the little woman's 
 face. She looked as though about to retort, when a gen- 
 tleman who had just taken possession of a compartment, 
 and noted all that had passed, came forward and ad- 
 dressed our heroine. 
 
 "Until your friends come in, will you not take my seat ?" 
 he asked, courteously. "I will gladly make the exchange, 
 or go for Mr. Lyster or Mr. Haydon, if you desire it." 
 
 "Thank you ; I will take your seat," she agreed. "It is 
 good of you to offer it." 
 
 "Say, folks, I'm going outside to take in this free Wild 
 West show," called the variety actress to her companions. 
 "Come along?" 
 
 But they declined. She had reached the platform alone, 
 when, coming toward the car, she saw the man of the 
 sombrero, and shrank back with a gasp of utter dismay. 
 
 "Oh, good Heaven!" she muttered, and all the color 
 and bravado were gone from her face, as she shrank back 
 out of his range of vision and almost into the arms of 
 the man Harvey, who had given the other girl his seat. 
 
 "What's up?" he asked, bluntly. 
 
 She only gave a muttered, unintelligible reply, pushed 
 past him to her own seat, where her feather-laden hat 
 was donned with astonishing rapidity, a great cloak was 
 
PROLOGUE 15 
 
 thrown around her, and she sank into a corner, a huddled 
 mass of wraps and feathers. Any one could have walked 
 along the aisle without catching even a glimpse of her 
 flaxen hair. 
 
 Tana and the stranger exchanged looks of utter won- 
 der at the lightning change effected before their eyes. 
 
 At that moment a tap-tap sounded on the window be- 
 side 'Tana, and, looking around, she met the dark eyes 
 of the man with the sombrero gazing kindly upward at 
 her. 
 
 The people were getting aboard the train again the 
 time was so short so short! and how can one speak 
 through a double glass? The fingers were all unequal to 
 the fastening of the window, and she turned an imploring, 
 flushed face to the helpful stranger. 
 
 "Can you oh, will you, please?" she asked, breath- 
 lessly. "Thank you, I'm very much obliged." 
 
 Then the window was raised, and her hand thrust out 
 to the man, who was bareheaded now, and who looked 
 very much as though he held the wealth of the world 
 when he clasped only 'Tana's fingers. 
 
 "Oh, it is you, is it ?" she asked, with a rather lame at- 
 tempt at careless speech. "I thought you had forgotten 
 to say good-by to me." 
 
 "You knew better," he contradicted. "You knew you 
 know now it wasn't because I forgot." 
 
 He looked at her moodily from under his dark brows, 
 and noticed the color flutter over her cheek and throat 
 in an adorable way. She had drawn her hand from him, 
 and it rested on the window a slim brown hand, with a 
 curious ring on one finger two tiny snakes whose 
 jeweled heads formed the central point of attraction. 
 
16 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "You said you would not wear that again. If it's a 
 hoodoo, as you thought, why not throw it away?" he 
 asked. 
 
 Vf Oh I've changed my -mind. I need to wear it so that 
 I will be reminded of something something important as 
 a hoodoo," she said, with a strange, bitter smile. 
 
 "Give it back to me, 'Tana," he urged. "I will No 
 Max will have something much prettier for you. And 
 listen, my girl. You are going away; don't ever come 
 back; forget everything here but the money that will be 
 yours for the claim. Do you understand me ? Forget all 
 I said to you when you know. I had no right to say it ; 
 I must have been drunk. I I lied, anyway." 
 
 "Oh, you lied, did you?" she asked, cynically, and her 
 hands were clasped closely, so close the ring must have 
 hurt her. He noticed it, and kept his eyes on her hand 
 as he continued, doggedly : 
 
 "Yes. You see, little girl, I thought I'd own up before 
 you left, so you wouldn't be wasting any good time in 
 being sorry about the folks back here. It wasn't square 
 for me to trouble you as I did. And I lied. I came 
 down to say that." 
 
 "You needn't have troubled yourself," she said, curtly. 
 "But I see you can tell lies. I never would have believed 
 it if I hadn't heard you. "But I guess, after all, I will 
 give you the ring. You might want it to give to some 
 one else perhaps your wife." 
 
 The bell was ringing and the wheels began slowly to 
 revolve. She pulled the circlet from her finger and almost 
 flung it at him. 
 
 " 'Tana !" and all of keen appeal was in his voice 
 and his eyes, ''little girl good-by !" 
 
PROLOGUE IT 
 
 But she turned away her head. Her hand, however, 
 reached out and the spray of autumn leaves fluttered to 
 his feet where the ring lay. 
 
 Then the rumble of the moving train sounded through 
 the valley, and the girl turned to find Max, Mr. Haydon 
 and a porter approaching, to convey her to the car aheadL 
 Mr. Haydon's face was a study of dismay at the sight of 
 Mr. Harvey closing the window and showing evident in- 
 terest in 'Tana's comfort. 
 
 "So Dan did get down to see you off, 'Tana?" observed 
 Max, as he led her along the aisle. "Dear old fellow ! 
 how I did try to coax him into coming East later ; but it 
 was of no use. He gave me some flowers for you wild 
 beauties. He never seemed to say much, 'Tana, but I've 
 an idea you'll never have a better friend in your life 
 than that same old Dan." 
 
 Mr. Harvey watched their exit, and smiled a little con- 
 cerning Mr. Haydon's evident annoyance. He watched,, 
 also, the flaxen-haired bundle in the corner, and saw the 
 curious, malignant look with which she followed 'Tana* 
 and to his friend he laughed over his triumph in exchang- 
 ing speech with the pretty, peculiar girl in brown. 
 
 "And the old party looked terribly fussy over it. In 
 fact, I've about sifted out the reason. He imagines me 
 a newspaper reporter on the alert for sensations. He's 
 afraid his stupidly respectable self may be mentioned in 
 a newspaper article concerning this local tragedy they all 
 talk about. Why, bless his pocket-book ! if I ever use pen 
 and ink on that girl's story, it will not be for a newspaper 
 article." 
 
 "Then you intend to tell it?" asked his friend. "How 
 will you learn it?" 
 
18 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "I do not know yet. The 'how' does not matter; I'll 
 tell you on paper some day." 
 
 "And write up that handsome Lyster as the hero ?" 
 
 "Perhaps." 
 
 Then a bend of the road brought them again in sight 
 of the river of the Kootenais. Here and there the canoes 
 of the Indians were speeding across at the ferry. But 
 one canoe alone was moving north ; not very swiftly, but 
 almost as though drifting with the current. 
 
 Using his field-glass, Harvey found it was as he had 
 thought. The occupant of the solitary canoe was the tall 
 man whose dark face had impressed the theatrical lady 
 so strongly. He was not using the paddle, and his chin 
 was resting on one clenched hand, while in the other he 
 held something to which he was giving earnest attention. 
 
 It was a spray of bright-colored leaves, and the 
 watcher dropped his glass with a guilty feeling. 
 
 "He brings her flowers, and gets in return only dead 
 leaves," Harvey thought, grimly. "I didn't hear a word 
 he said to her ; but his eyes spoke strongly enough, poor 
 devil ! I wonder if she sees him, too." 
 
 And all through the evening, and for many a day, the 
 picture remained in his mind. Even when he wrote the 
 story that is told in these pages, he could never find words 
 to express the utter loneliness of that life, as it seemed to 
 drift away past the sun-touched ripples of water into that 
 vast, shadowy wilderness to the north. 
 
A STRANGE GIRL 19 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A STRANGE GIRL. 
 
 "Well, by the help of either her red gods or devils, she 
 caa swim, anyway !" 
 
 This explosive statement was made one June morning 
 on the banks of the Kootenai, and the speaker, after a 
 steady gaze, relinquished his field-glass to the man be- 
 side him. 
 
 "Can she make it ?" he asked 
 
 A grunt was the only reply given him. The silent 
 watcher was too much interested in the scene across the 
 water. 
 
 Shouts came to them the yells of frightened Indian 
 children; and from the cone-shaped dwellings, up from 
 the water, the Indian women were hurrying. One, reach- 
 ing the shore first, sent up a shrill cry, as she perceived 
 that, from the canoe where the children played, one had 
 fallen over, and was being swept away by that swift- 
 rushing, chill water, far out from the reaching hands of 
 the others. 
 
 Then a figure lolling on the shore farther down stream 
 than the canoe sprang erect at the frightened scream. 
 
 One quick glance showed the helplessness of those 
 above, and another the struggling little form there in the 
 water the little one who turned such wild eyes toward 
 the shore, and was the only one of them all who was 
 not making some outcry. 
 
 The white men, who were watching from the opposite 
 
20 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 side, could see shoes flung aside quickly; a jacket dropped 
 on the shore; and then down into the water a slight 
 figure darted with the swiftness of a kingfisher, and 
 swam out to the little fellow who had struggled to keep 
 his head above water, but was fast growing helpless in the 
 chill of the mountain river. 
 
 Then it was that Mr. Maxwell Lyster commented on 
 the physical help lent by the gods of the red people, as the 
 ability of any female to swim thus lustily in spite of that 
 icy current seemed to his civilized understanding a thing 
 superhuman. Of course, bears and other animals of the 
 woods swam it at all seasons, when it was open; but to 
 see a woman dash into it like that ! Well, it sent a shiver 
 over him to think of it. 
 
 "They'll both get chilled and drop to the bottom !" he 
 remarked, with irritated concern. "Of course there are 
 enough of the red vagabonds in this new El Dorado of 
 yours, without that particular squaw. But it would be a 
 pity that so plucky a one should be translated." 
 
 Then a yell of triumph came from the other shore. A 
 canoe had been loosened, and was fairly flying over the 
 water to where the child had been dragged to the surface, 
 and the rescuer was holding herself up by the slow 
 efforts of one arm, but could make no progress with her 
 burden. 
 
 "That's no squaw!" commented the other man, who 
 had been looking through the glass. 
 
 "Why, Dan!" 
 
 "It's no squaw, I tell you," insisted the other, with the 
 superior knowledge of a native. "Thought so the minute 
 I saw her drop the shoes and jacket that way. She didn't 
 make a single Indian move. It's a white woman !" 
 
 "Queer place for a white woman, isn't it?" 
 
A STRANGE GIRL 21 
 
 The man called Dan did not answer. The canoe had 
 reached that figure in the water and the squaw in it lifted 
 the now senseless child and laid him in the bottom of the 
 light craft. 
 
 A slight altercation seemed going on between the 
 woman in the water and the one in the boat. The former 
 was protesting against being helped on board the men 
 could see that by their gestures. She finally gained her 
 point, for the squaw seized the paddle and sent the boat: 
 shoreward with all the strength of her brown arms, while 
 the one in the water held on to the canoe and was thus 
 towed back, where half the Indian village had now 
 swarmed to receive them. 
 
 "She's got sand and sense," and Dan nodded his ap- 
 preciation of the towing process ; "for, chilled as she must 
 be, the canoe would more than likely have turned over if 
 she had tried to climb into it. Look at the pow-wow they 
 are kicking up ! That little red devil must count for big 
 stakes with them." 
 
 "But the woman who swam after him. See! they try 
 to stand her on her feet, but she can't walk. There ! 
 she's on the ground again. I'd give half my supper to 
 know if she has killed herself with that ice-bath." 
 
 "Maybe you can eat all your supper and find out, too," 
 observed the other, with a shrug of his shoulders, and a 
 quizzical glance at his companion, "unless even the 
 glimpse of a petticoat has chased away your appetite. 
 You had better take Gome advice from an old man, Max, 
 and swear off approaching females in this country, for 
 the specimens you'll find here aren't things to make you 
 proud they're human." 
 
 "An old man !" repeated Mr. Lyster with a smile of 
 derision. "You must be pretty near twenty-eight years 
 
22 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 old aren't you, Dan? and just about five years older 
 than myself. And what airs you do assume in conse- 
 quence ! With all the weight of those years," he added, 
 slowly, "I doubt, Mr. Dan Overton, if you have really 
 lived as much as I have." 
 
 One glance of the dark eyes was turned on the speaker 
 for an instant, and then the old felt hat again shaded 
 them as he continued watching the group on the far shore. 
 The swimmer had been picked up by a stalwart Indian 
 woman, and was carried bodily up to one of the lodges, 
 while another squaw evidently the mother carried the 
 little redskin who had caused all the commotion. 
 
 "I suppose, by living, you mean the life of settlements 
 or, to condense the question still more, the life of 
 cities," continued Overton, stretching himself lazily on the 
 bank. "You mean the life of a certain set in one certain 
 city New York, for instance," and he grinned at the ex- 
 pression of impatience on the face of the other. "Yes, I 
 reckon New York is about the one, and a certain part of 
 the town to live in. A certain gang of partners, who have 
 a certain man to make their clothes and boots and hats, 
 and stamp his name on the inside of them, so that other 
 folks can see, when you take off your coat, or your hat, or 
 your gloves, that they were made at just the right place. 
 This makes you a man worth knowing isn't that about 
 the idea? And in the afternoon, at just about the right 
 hour, you rig yourself out in a certain cut of coat, and 
 stroll for an hour or so on a certain street ! In the even- 
 ing if a man wants to understand just what it is to live 
 he must get into other clothes and drop into the theater, 
 making a point of being introduced to any heavy swell 
 within reach, so you can speak of it afterward, you know. 
 Just as your chums like to say they had a supper with a 
 
A STRANGE GIRL 23 
 
 pretty actress, after the curtain went down ; but they don't 
 go into details, and own up that the 'actress' maybe never 
 did anything on a stage but walk on in armor and carry a 
 banner. Oh, scowl if you want to ! Of course it sounds 
 shoddy when a trapper outlines it; but it doesn't seem 
 shoddy to the people who live like that. Then, about the 
 time that all good girls are asleep, it is just the hour for 
 a supper to be ordered, at just the right place for the wine 
 to be good, and the dishes served in Ai shape, with a 
 convenient waiter who knows how dim to make the 
 lights, and how to efface himself, and let you wait on your 
 'lady' with your own hands. And she'll go home wearing 
 a ring of yours two, if you have them ; and you'll wake 
 up at noon next day, and think what a jolly time you 
 had, but with your head so muddled that you can't re- 
 member where it was you were to meet her the next night, 
 or whether it was the next night that her husband was to 
 be home, and she couldn't see you at all." Overton rolled 
 over on his face and grunted disdainfully, saying : "That's 
 about the style of thing you call living, don't you, sonny ?" 
 
 "Great Scott, Dan !" and the "sonny" addressed stared 
 at him in perplexity, "one never knows what to expect 
 of you. Of course there is some truth in the sketch you 
 make; but but I thought you had never ranged to the 
 East?" 
 
 "Did you? Well, I don't look as if I'd ever ranged 
 beyond the timber, do I?" and he stretched out his long 
 legs with their shabby coverings, and stuck his ringers 
 through a hole in his hat. "This outfit doesn't look as if 
 the hands of a Broadway tailor had ever touched it. But, 
 my boy, the sketch you speak of would be just as true to 
 life among a certain set in any large city of the States ; 
 only in the West, or even in the South, those ambitious 
 
24: THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 sports would know enough to buy a horse on their own 
 judgment, if they wanted to ride. Or would bet on the 
 races without hustling around to find some played-out 
 jockey who would give them tips/' 
 
 "Well, to say the least, your opinion is not very flatter- 
 ing to us," remarked the young man, moodily. "You've 
 got some grudge against the East, I guess." 
 
 "Grudge ? Not any. And you're all right, Max. You 
 will find thousands willing to keep to your idea of life, 
 so we won't split on that wedge. My old stepdad would 
 chime in with you if he were here. He prates about 
 civilization and Eastern culture till I get weary some- 
 times. Culture! Wait till you see him. He's all right 
 in his way, of course ; but as I cut loose from home when 
 only fifteen, and never ran across the old man again until 
 two years ago well, you see, I can make my estimates 
 in that direction without being biased by family feeling. 
 And I reckon he does the same thing. I don't know what 
 to expect when I go back this time; but, from signs 
 around camp when I left, I wouldn't be surprised if he 
 presented me with a stepmother on my return." 
 
 "A stepmother? Whew!" whistled the other. "Well, 
 that shows there are some white women in your region, 
 anyway." 
 
 "Oh, yes, we have several. This particular one is a 
 Pennsylvania product; talks through her nose, and eats 
 with her knife, and will maybe try to make -eyes at you and 
 keep you in practice. But she is a good, square woman ; 
 simply one of the many specimens that drift out here. 
 Came up from Helena with the 'boom,' and started a 
 milliner store a milliner store in the bush, mind you ! 
 But after the Indians had bought all the bright feathers 
 and artificial flowers, she changed her sign, and keeps an 
 
A STRANGE GIRL 25 
 
 eating-house now. It is the high-toned corner of the 
 camp. She can cook some; and I reckon that's what 
 catches the old man." 
 
 "Any more interesting specimens like that ?" 
 
 "Not like that/' returned Overton ; "but there are some 
 more." 
 
 Then he arose, and stood listening to sounds back in the 
 wild forests. 
 
 "I hear the 'cayuse' bell," he remarked ; "so the others 
 are coming. We'll go back up to the camp, and, after 
 'chuck/ we'll go over and give you a nearer view of 
 the tribe on the other shore, if you want to add them to 
 the list of your sight-seeing." 
 
 "Certainly I do. They'll be a relief after the squads 
 of railroad section hands we've been having for company 
 lately. They knocked all the romance out of the wildly 
 beautiful country we've been coming through since we left 
 the Columbia River." 
 
 "Come back next year; then a boat will be puffing 
 up here to the landing, and you can cross to the Columbia 
 in a few hours, for the road will be completed then." 
 
 "And you will you be here then ?" 
 
 "Well yes; I reckon so. I never anchor anywhere 
 very long; but this country suits me, and the company 
 seems to need me." 
 
 The young fellow looked at him and laughed, and 
 dropped his hand on the broad shoulder with a certain 
 degree of affection. 
 
 "Seems to need you?" he repeated. "Well, Mr. Dan 
 Overton, if the day ever conies when I'm necessary to 
 the welfare of a section as large as a good-sized State, I 
 hope I'll know enough to appreciate my own importance." 
 
 "Hope you will," said Overton, with a kindly smile. 
 
20 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "No /eason why you should not be of use. Every man 
 with a fair share of health and strength ought to be of 
 use somewhere." 
 
 "Yes, that sounds all right and is easy to grasp, if you 
 have been brought up with the idea. But suppose you 
 had been trained by a couple of maiden aunts who only 
 thought to give you the manners of a gentleman, and 
 leave you their money to get through the world with? 
 I guess, under such circumstances, you, too, might have 
 settled into the feathery nest prepared for you, and 
 thought you were doing your duty to the world if you 
 were only ornamental," and the dubious smile on his 
 really handsome face robbed the speech of any vanity. 
 
 "You're all right, I tell you," returned the other. "Don't 
 growl at yourself so much. You'll find your work and 
 buckle down to it, some of these days. Maybe you'll find 
 it out here who knows? Of course Mr. Seldon would 
 see to it that you got any post you would want in this 
 district." 
 
 "Yes, he's a jolly old fellow, and has shown me a lot 
 of favors. Seems to me relatives mean more to folks 
 out here than they do East, because so few have their 
 families or relatives along, I guess. If it had not been for 
 Seldon, I rather think I would not have had the chance of 
 this wild trip with you." 
 
 "Likely not. I don't generally want a tenderfoot along 
 when I've work to do. No offense, Max; but they are 
 too often a hindrance. Now that you have come, though, 
 I'll confess I'm glad of it. The lonely trips over this 
 wild region tend to make a man silent a bear among 
 people when he does reach a camp. But we've talked 
 most of the time, and I reckon I feel the better of it. I 
 
A STRANGE GIRL 27 
 
 know I'll miss you when I go over this route again. 
 You'll be on your way East by that time." 
 
 The "cayuse" bell sounded nearer and nearer, and di- 
 rectly from the dense forest a packhorse came stepping 
 with care over the fallen logs, where the sign of a trail 
 was yet dim to any eyes but those of a woodsman. A bell 
 at its neck tinkled as it walked, and after it four others 
 followed, all with heavy loads bound to their backs. It 
 looked strange to see the patient animals thus walk with- 
 out guide or driver through the dense timber of the 
 mountains; but a little later voices were heard, and two 
 horsemen came out of the shadows of the wood, and fol- 
 lowed the horses upward along the bank of the river to 
 where a little stream of fresh water tumbled down to the 
 Kootenai. There a little camp was located, an insignifi- 
 cant gathering of tents, but one that meant a promising 
 event to the country, for it was to be the connecting point 
 of the boats that would one day float from the States 
 on the river, and the railroad that would erelong lead 
 westward over the trail from which the packhorses were 
 bringing supplies. 
 
 The sun was setting and all the ripples of the river 
 shone red in its reflected light. Forests of pine loomed 
 up black and shadowy above the shores ; and there, higher 
 up up where the snow was, all tips of the river range 
 were tinged a warm pink, and where the shadows lay, the 
 lavender and faint purples drifted into each other, and bit 
 by bit crowded the pink line higher and higher until it 
 dared touch only the topmost peaks with its lingering 
 kiss. 
 
 Lyster halted to look over the wild beauty of the wilder- 
 ness, and from the harmony of river and hills and sky 
 his eyes turned to Overton. 
 
28 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "You are right, Dan," he said, with an appreciative 
 Bmile, a smile that opened his lips and showed how perfect 
 the mouth was under the brown mustache "you are 
 right enough to keep close to all these beauties. You seem 
 in some way to belong to them not that you are so 
 much 'a thing of beauty' yourself," and the smile widened 
 a little; "but you have in you all the strength of the 
 hills and the patience of the wilderness. You know what 
 I mean." 
 
 "Yes, I guess so," answered Overton. "You want some 
 one to spout verses to or make love to, and there is no 
 subject handy. I can make allowances for you, though. 
 Those tendencies are apt to stick to a man for about a 
 year after a trip to Southern California. I don't know 
 whether it's the girls down there, or the wine that is ac- 
 countable for it; but whatever it is, you have been back 
 from there only three months. You've three-quarters of 
 a year to run yet maybe more ; for I've a notion that 
 you have a leaning in that direction even in your most 
 sensible moments." 
 
 "H'm ! You must have made a trip to that wine coun- 
 try yourself sometime," observed Lyster. "Your theory 
 suggests practice. Were there girls and wine there then ?" 
 
 "Plenty," returned Overton, briefly. "Come on. There's 
 the cook shouting supper." 
 
 "And after supper we're to go over to the Kootenai 
 camp. Say ! what is the meaning of that name, anyway ? 
 You know all their jargons up here; do you know that, 
 too?" 
 
 "Nobody does, I reckon ; there are lots of theories flying 
 around. The generally accepted one is that they were 
 called the 'Court Nez* by the French trappers long ago, 
 and that Kootenai is the result, after generations of Indian 
 
A STRANGE GIRL 29 
 
 pronunciation. They named the 'Nes Perces' too the 
 'pierced noses/ you know; but that name has kept its 
 meaning better. You'll find the trail of the French all 
 through the Indian tribes up here." 
 
 "Think that was a Frenchwoman in the river back 
 there? You said she was white." 
 
 "Yes, I did. But it's generally the Frenchmen you 
 find among the reds, and not the women; though I do 
 know some square white women across the line who have 
 married educated Indians." 
 
 "But they are generally a lazy, shiftless set ?" 
 
 The tone was half inquiring, and Overton grimaced 
 and smiled. 
 
 "They are not behind the rest, when it comes to a 
 fight," he answered. "And as to lazy well, there are 
 several colors of people who are that, under some cir- 
 cumstances. I have an Indian friend across in the States, 
 who made eight thousand dollars in a cattle deal last year, 
 and didn't sell out, either. Now, when you and I can do 
 as well on capital we've earned ourselves, then maybe 
 we'll have a right to criticise some of the rest for in- 
 dolence. But you can't do much to improve Indians, 
 or any one else, by penning them up in so many square 
 miles and bribing them to be good. The Indian cattle- 
 man I speak of kept clear of the reservation, and after 
 drifting around for a while, settled down to the most 
 natural civilized calling possible to an Indian stock- 
 raising. Dig in the ground? No; they won't do much 
 of that, just at first. But I've eaten some pretty good 
 garden truck they've raised." 
 
 Lyster whistled and arched his handsome brows sig- 
 nificantly. 
 
 "So your sympathies run in that direction, do they ? Is 
 3 
 
30 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 there a Kootenai Pocahontas somewhere in the wilder- 
 ness accountable for your ideas ? That is about the only 
 ground I could excuse you on, for I think they are beastly, 
 except in pictures." 
 
 They had reached a gathering of men who were seated 
 at a table in the open air some long boards laid on 
 trestles. 
 
 Overton and his friend were called to seats at the head 
 of the table, where the "boss" of the construction gang 
 sat. The rough pleasantries of the men, and the way they 
 made room for him, showed that the big bronzed ranger 
 was a favorite visitor along the "works/' 
 
 They looked with some curiosity at his more finely 
 garbed companion, but he returned their regard with a 
 good deal of careless audacity, and won their liking by 
 his independence. But in the midst of the social studies 
 he was making of them, he heard Overton say : 
 
 "And you have not heard of a white girl in this 
 vicinity?" 
 
 "Never a girl. Are you looking for one? Old Ak- 
 komi, the Indian, has gone into camp across the river, and 
 he might have a red one to spare." 
 
 "Perhaps," agreed Overton. "He's an old acquaint- 
 ance of mine a year old. But I'm not looking for red 
 girls just now, and I'm going to tell the old man to keep 
 the families clear of your gang, too." Then to Lyster he 
 remarked : 
 
 "Whether these people know it or not, there is a white 
 girl in the Indian camp a young girl, too; and before 
 we sleep, we'll see who she is." 
 
IN THE LODGE OF AKKOMI 31 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 IN THE LODGE OF AKKOMI. 
 
 The earliest stars had picked their way through the 
 blue canopy, when the men from the camp crossed over 
 to the fishing village of the Indians ; for it was only when 
 the moon of May, or of June, lightened the sky that the 
 red men moved their lodges to the north their winter 
 resort was the States. 
 
 "Dan umph! How?" grunted a tall brave loung- 
 ing at the opening of the tepee. He arose, and took his 
 pipe from his lips, glancing with assumed indifference 
 at the handsome young stranger, though, in reality, 
 Black Bow was not above curiosity. 
 
 "How?" returned Overton, and reached out his hand. 
 "I am glad to see that the lodges by the river hold 
 friends instead of strangers," he continued. "This, too, 
 is a friend one from the big ocean where the sun rises. 
 We call him Max." 
 
 "Umph! How?" and Lyster glanced in comical dis- 
 may at his friend as his hand was grasped by one so 
 dirty, so redolent of cooked fish, as the one Black Bow 
 was gracious enough to offer him. 
 
 Thereupon they were asked to seat themselves on 
 the blanket of that dignitary no small favor in the 
 eyes of an Indian. Overton talked of the fish, and the 
 easy markets there would soon be for them, when the 
 boats and the cars came pushing swiftly through the 
 forests; of the many wolves Black Bow had killed in 
 
32 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 the winter past; of how well the hunting shirt of deer- 
 skin had worn that Black Bow's squaw had sold him 
 when he met them last on the trail ; of any and many- 
 things but the episode of the evening of which Lyster 
 was waiting to hear. 
 
 As the dusk fell, Lyster fully appreciated the pictur- 
 esque qualities of the scene before him. The many 
 dogs and their friendly attentions disturbed him some- 
 what, but he sat there feeling much as if in a theater; 
 for those barbarians, in their groupings, reminded him 
 of bits of stage setting he had seen at some time or an- 
 other. 
 
 One big fire was outside the lodges, and over it a 
 big kettle hung, and the steam drifted up and over the 
 squaws and children gathered there. Some of them 
 came over and looked at him, and several grunted at 
 Overton. Black Bow would order them away once in a 
 while with a lordly "Klehowyeh," much as he did the 
 dogs; and, like the dogs, they would promptly return, 
 and gaze with half-veiled eyes at the elegance of the 
 high boots covering the shapely limbs of Mr. Lyster. 
 
 The men were away on a hunt, Black Bow explained ; 
 only he and Akkomi, the head chief, had not gone. Ak- 
 komi was growing very old and no longer led the 
 hunts; therefore a young chief must ever be near to 
 his call; so Black Bow was also absent from the hunt. 
 
 "We stay until two suns rise," and Overton pointed 
 across to the camp of the whites. "To-morrow I would 
 ask that Black Bow and the chief Akkomi eat at our 
 table. This is the kinsman tillicums of the men who 
 make the great work where the mines are and the boats 
 that are big and the cars that go faster than the horses 
 run. He wants that the two great chiefs of the Koote- 
 
IN THE LODGE OF AKKOMI 33 
 
 nais eat of his food before he goes back again to the 
 towns of the white people." 
 
 Lyster barely repressed a groan as he heard the pro- 
 posal made, but Overton was blandly oblivious of the 
 appealing expression of his friend; the thing he was in- 
 terested in was to bring Black Bow to a communicative 
 mood, for not a sign could he discover of a white woman 
 in the camp, though he was convinced there was or had 
 been one there. 
 
 The invitation to eat succeeded. Black Bow would 
 tell the old chief of their visit; maybe he would talk 
 with them now, but he was not sure. The chief was 
 tired, his thoughts had been troubled that day. The 
 son of his daughter had been near death in the river 
 there. He was only a child, and could not swim yet; a 
 young squaw of the white people had kept him from 
 drowning, and the squaw of Akkomi had been making 
 medicines for her ever since. 
 
 "Young squaw! Where comes a white squaw from 
 to the Kootenai lakes?" asked Overton, incredulously. 
 "Half white, half red, maybe." 
 
 "White," affirmed their host. "Where? Humph! 
 Where come the sea-birds from that get lost when they 
 fly too far from shore? Kootenai not know, but they 
 drop down sometimes by the rivers. So this one has 
 come. She has talked with Akkomi ; but he tell nothing ; 
 only maybe we will all dance a dance some day, and 
 then she will be Kootenai, too." 
 
 "Adopt her," muttered Overton, and glanced at Lys- 
 ter; but that gentleman's attention was given at the 
 moment to a couple of squaws who walked past and 
 looked at him out of the corners of their eyes, so he 
 
34: THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 missed that portion of Black Bow's figurative informa- 
 tion. 
 
 "I have need to see the chief Akkomi," said Overton, 
 after a moment's thought. "It would be well if I could 
 see him before sleeping. Of these," producing two col- 
 ored handkerchiefs, "will you give one to him, that he 
 may know I am in earnest, the other- will you not wear 
 for Dan?" 
 
 The brave grunted a pleased assent, and carefully se- 
 lecting the handkerchief with the brightest border, 
 thrust it within his hunting shirt. He then proceeded 
 to the lodge of the old chief, bearing the other ostenta- 
 tiously in his hand, as though he were carrying the fate 
 of his nation in the gaudy bit of silk and cotton weaving. 
 
 "What are you trading for ?" asked Lyster, and looked 
 like protesting, when Overton answered : 
 
 "An audience with Akkomi." 
 
 "Great Caesar! is one of that sort not enough? I'll 
 never feel that my hand is clean again until I can give it 
 a bath with some sort of disinfectant stuff. Now there's 
 another one to greet! I'll not be able to eat fish again 
 for a year. Why didn't luck send the old vagabond 
 hunting with the rest? I can endure the women, for 
 they don't sprawl around you and shake hands with you. 
 Just tell me what I'm to donate for being allowed to 
 bask in the light of Akkomi's countenance? Haven't a 
 thing over here but some cigars." 
 
 Overton only laughed silently, and gave more attention 
 to the lodge of Akkomi than to his companion's disgust. 
 When Black Bow emerged from the tent, he watched 
 him sharply as he approached, to learn from the Indiaf's 
 countenance, if possible, the result of the message. 
 
 "If he sends a royal request that we partake of sup- 
 
IN THE LODGE OF AKKOMI 35 
 
 per, I warn you, I shall be violently and immediately 
 taken ill too ill to eat," whispered Lyster, meaningly. 
 
 Black Bow seated himself, filled his pipe, handed it to 
 a squaw to light, and then sent several puffs of smoke 
 skyward, ere he said: 
 
 "Akkomi is old, and the time for his rest has come. 
 He says the door of his lodge is open that Dan may 
 go within and speak what there is to say. But the 
 stranger he must wait till the day comes again.'' 
 
 "Snubbed me, by George!" laughed Lyster. "Well, 
 am I then to wait outside the portals, and be content 
 with the crumbs you choose to carry out to me?" 
 
 "Oh, amuse yourself," returned Overton, carelessly, 
 and was on his feet at once. "I leave you to the enjoy- 
 ment of Black Bow." 
 
 A moment later he reached the lodge of the old chief 
 and, without ceremony, walked in to the center of it. 
 
 A slight fire was there, just enough to kill the damp- 
 ness of the river's edge, and over it the old squaw of 
 Akkomi bent, raking the dry sticks, until the flames 
 fluttered upward and outlined the form of the chief, 
 coiled on a pile of skins and blankets against the wall. 
 
 He nodded a welcome, said "Klehowyeh," and mo- 
 tioned with his pipe that his visitor should be seated on 
 another pile of clothing and bedding, near his own 
 person. 
 
 Then it was that Overton discovered a fourth person 
 in the shadows opposite him the white woman he had 
 been curious about. 
 
 And it was not a woman at all, only a girl of perhaps 
 sixteen years instead who shrank back into the gloom, 
 and frowned on him with great, dark, unchildlike eyes, 
 and from under brows wide and straight as those of a 
 
36 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 sculptor's model for a young Greek god; for, if any 
 beauty of feature was hers, it was boyish in its character. 
 As for beauty of expression, she assuredly did not culti- 
 vate that. The curved red mouth was sullen and the eyes 
 antagonistic. 
 
 One sharp glance showed Overton all this, and also 
 that there was no Indian blood back of the rather pale 
 cheek. 
 
 "So you got out of the water alive, did you?" he 
 asked, in a matter of fact way, as though the dip in the 
 river was a usual thing to see. 
 
 She raised her eyes and lowered them again with a 
 sort of insolence, as though to show her resentment of 
 the fact that he addressed her at all. 
 
 "I rather guess I'm alive," she answered, curtly, and 
 the visitor turned to the chief. 
 
 "I saw to-day your child's child in the waters of the 
 Kootenai. I saw the white friend lifting him up out 
 of the river, and fighting with death for him. It would 
 have been a good thing for a man to do, Akkomi. I 
 crossed the water to-night, to see if your boy is well 
 once more, or if there is any way I can do service for the 
 young white squaw who is your friend." 
 
 The old Indian smoked in silence for a full minute. 
 He was a sharp-eyed, shrewd-faced old fellow. When 
 he spoke, it was in the Chinook jargon, and with a sig- 
 nificant nod toward the girl, as though she was not to 
 hear or understand his words. 
 
 "It is true, the son of my daughter is again alive. The 
 breath was gone when the young squaw reached him, 
 but she was in time. Dan know the young squaw, may- 
 be?" 
 
 "No, Akkomi. Who?" 
 
IN THE LODGE OF AKKOMI 37 
 
 The old fellow shook his head, as if not inclined to 
 give the information required. 
 
 "She tell white men if she want white men to know," 
 he observed. "The heart of Akkomi is heavy for her 
 heavy. A lone trail is a hard one for a squaw in the 
 Kootenai land a white squaw who is young. She 
 rests here, and may eat of our meat all her days if she 
 will." 
 
 Overton glanced again at the girl, who was evidently^ 
 from the words of the chief, following some lone trail 
 through the wilderness, a trail starting whence, and 
 leading whither? All that he could read was that no 
 happiness kept her company. 
 
 "But the life of a red squaw in the white men's camps 
 is a bad life," resumed the old man, after a season of 
 deliberation; "and the life of the white squaw in the 
 red man's village is bad as well." 
 
 Overton nodded gravely, but said nothing. By the 
 manner of Akkomi, he perceived that some important 
 thought was stirring in the old man's mind, and that it 
 would develop into speech all the sooner if not hurried. 
 
 "Of all the men of the white camps it is you Akkomi 
 is gladdest to talk to this day," continued the chief, 
 after another season of silence; "for you, Dan, talk 
 with a tongue that is straight, and you go many times 
 where the great towns are built." 
 
 "The words of Akkomi are true words," assented 
 Overton, "and my ears listen to hear what he will say." 
 
 "Where the white men live is where this young white 
 squaw should live/' said Akkomi, and the listening 
 squaw of Akkomi grunted assent. It was easy to read 
 that she looked with little favor on the strange white 
 girl within their lodge. To be sure, Akkomi was grow- 
 
38 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 ing old ; but the wife of Akkomi had memories of his 
 lusty youth and of various wars she had been forced to 
 wage on ambitious squaws who fancied it would be well 
 to dwell in the lodge of the head chief. 
 
 And remembering those days, though so long past, 
 the old squaw was sorely averse to the adoption dance 
 for the white girl who lay on their blankets, and thought 
 it good, indeed, that she go to live in the villages of the 
 white people. 
 
 Overton nodded gravely. 
 
 "You speak wisely, Akkomi," he said. 
 
 Glancing at the girl, Dan noted that she was leaning 
 forward and gazing at him intently. Her face gave him 
 the uncomfortable feeling that she perhaps knew what 
 they were talking of, but she dropped back into the 
 shadows again, and he dismissed the idea as improbable, 
 for white girls were seldom versed in the lore of Indian 
 jargon. 
 
 He waited a bit for Akkomi to continue, but as that 
 dignitary evidently thought he had said enough, if Over- 
 ton chose to interpret it correctly, the white man asked : 
 
 "Would it please Akkomi that I, Dan, should lead 
 the young squaw where white families are?" 
 
 "Yes. It is that I thought of when I heard your name. 
 I am old. I cannot take her. She has come a long way 
 on a trail for that which has not been found, and her 
 heart is so heavy she does not care where the next trail 
 leads her. So it seems to Akkomi. But she saved the son 
 of my daughter, and I would wish good to her. So, if 
 she is willing, I would have her go to your people." 
 
 "If she is willing!" Overton doubted it, and thought 
 of the scowl with which she had answered him before. 
 After a little hesitation, he said: "It shall be as you 
 
IN THE LODGE OF AKKOMI 39 
 
 wish. I am very busy now, but to serve one who is your 
 friend I will take time for a few days. Do you know 
 the girl?" 
 
 "I know her, and her father before her. It was long 
 ago, but my eyes are good. I remember. She is good 
 girl not afraid." 
 
 "Father ! Where is her father?" 
 
 "In the grave blankets so she tells me." 
 
 "And her name what is she called?" 
 
 But Akkomi was not to be stripped of all his knowl- 
 edge by questions. He puffed at the pipe in silence and 
 then, as Overton was as persistently quiet as himself, he 
 finally said: 
 
 "The white girl will tell to you the things she wants 
 you to know, if she goes with your people. If she stays 
 here, the lodge of Akkomi has a blanket for her." 
 
 The girl was now face downward on the couch of 
 skins, and when Overton wished to speak to her he 
 crossed over and gently touched her shoulder. He was 
 almost afraid she was weeping, because of the position; 
 but when she raised her head he saw no signs of tears. 
 
 "Why do you come to me?" she demanded. "I ain't 
 troubling the white folks any. Huh ! I didn't even stop 
 at their camp across the river." 
 
 The grunt of disdain she launched at him made him 
 smile. It was so much more like that of an Indian than 
 a white person, yet she was white, despite all the red 
 manners she chose to adopt. 
 
 "No, I reckon you didn't stop at the white camp, else 
 I'd have heard of it. But as you're alone in this country, 
 don't you think you'd be better off where other white 
 women live?" 
 
40 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 He spoke in the kindliest tone, and she only bit her 
 lip and shrugged her angular shoulders. 
 
 "I will see that you are left with good people/' he con- 
 tinued; "so don't be afraid about that. I'm Dan Over- 
 ton. Akkomi will tell you I'm square. I know where 
 there's a good sort of white woman who would be glad 
 to have you around, I guess." 
 
 "Is it your wife?" she demanded, with the same sul- 
 len, suspicious wrinkle between her brows. 
 
 His face paled ever so little and he took a step back- 
 ward, as he looked at her through narrowing eyes. 
 
 "No, miss, it is not my wife," he said, curtly, and 
 then walked back and sat down beside the old chief. "In 
 fact, she isn't any relation to me, but she's the nearest 
 white woman I know to leave you with. If you want to 
 go farther, I reckon I can help you. Anyway, you come 
 along across the line to Sinna Ferry, and I feel sure 
 you'll find friends there." 
 
 She looked at him unbelievingly. "She's used to be- 
 ing deceived," decided Overton, as she watched him; 
 but he stood her gaze without flinching and smiled back 
 at her. 
 
 "Do you live there?" she asked again, in that abrupt, 
 uncivil way, and turned her eyes to Akkomi, as though 
 to read his countenance as well as that of the white 
 man, a difficult thing, however, for the head of the 
 old man was again shrouded in his blanket, from which 
 only the tip of his nose and his pipe protruded. 
 
 In a far corner the squaw of Akkomi was crouched, 
 her bead-like eyes glittering with a watchful interest, as 
 they turned from one to the other of the speakers, and 
 missed no tone or gesture of the two so strangely met 
 within her tepee. Overton noticed her once, and thought 
 
IN THE LODGE OF AKKOMI 41 
 
 what a subject for a picture Lyster would think the 
 whole thing at long range. He would want to view 
 it from the door of the tepee, and not from the interior. 
 
 But the questioning eyes of the girl were turned to 
 him, and remembering them, he said: 
 
 "Live there? Well, as much a little more than I do 
 anywhere else of late. I am to go there in two days; 
 and if you are ready to go, I will take you and be glad 
 to do it." 
 
 "You don't know anything about me," she protested. 
 
 He smiled, for her tone told him she was yielding. 
 
 "Oh, no not much," he confessed, "but you can tell 
 me, you know." 
 
 "I know I can, but I won't," she said, doggedly. "So 
 I guess you'll just move on down to the ferry without 
 me. He knows, and he says I can live here if I want to. 
 I'm tired of the white people. A girl alone is as well 
 with the Indians. I think so, anyway, and I guess I'll 
 try camping with them. They don't ask a word only 
 what I tell myself. They don't even care whether I have 
 a name ; they would give me one if I hadn't." 
 
 "A suitable name and a nice Indian one for you 
 would be, 'The Water Rat' or 'The Girl Who Swims/ 
 Maybe," he added, "they will hunt you up one more 
 like poetry in books (the only place one finds poetry in 
 Indians), 'Laughing Eyes,' or 'The One Who Smiles/ 
 Oh, yes, they'll find you a name fast enough. So will I, 
 if you have none. But you have, haven't you ?" 
 
 "Yes, I have, and it's 'Tana," said the girl, piqued 
 into telling by the humorous twinkle in the man's eyes. 
 
 " 'Tana ? Why, that itself is an Indian name, is it 
 not? And you are not Indian." 
 
 "It's 'Tana, for short. Montana is my name/' 
 
42 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "It is? Well, you've got a big name, little girl, and 
 as it is proof that you belong to the States, don't you 
 think you'd better let me take you back there ?" 
 
 "I ain't going down among white folks who will turn 
 up their noses at me, just because you found me among 
 these redskins," she answered, scowling at him and 
 speaking very deliberately. "I know how proud decent 
 women are, and I ain't going among any other sort 
 and that's settled." 
 
 "Why, you poor little one, what sort of folks have you 
 been among?" he asked, compassionately. Her stub- 
 born antagonism filled him with more of pity than tears 
 could have done; it showed so much suspicion, that 
 spoke of horrible associations, and she was so young ! 
 
 "See here! No one need know I found you among 
 the Indians. I can make up some story say you're the 
 daughter of an old partner of mine. It'll be a lie, of 
 course, and I don't approve of lies. But if it makes you 
 feel better, it goes just the same! Partner dies, you 
 know, and I fall heir to you. See? Then, of course, 
 I pack you back to civilization, where you can well, 
 go to school or something. How's that?" 
 
 She did not answer, only looked at him strangely, from 
 under those straight brows. He felt an angry impatience 
 with her that she did not take the proposal differently, 
 when it was so plainly for her good he was making 
 schemes. 
 
 "As to your father being dead that part of it would 
 be true enough, I suppose," he continued ; "for Akkomi 
 told me he was dead." 
 
 "Yes yes, he is dead," she said coldly, and her tones 
 were so even no one would imagine it was her father 
 she spoke of. 
 
IN THE LODGE OF AKKOMI 43 
 
 "Your mother, too?" 
 
 "My mother, too/' she assented. "But I told you I 
 wasn't going to talk any more about myself, and I ain't. 
 If I can't go to your Sunday-school without a pedigree, 
 I'll stop where I am that's all." 
 
 She spoke with the independence of a boy, and it was, 
 perhaps, her independence that induced the man to be 
 persistent. 
 
 "All right, Tana," he said cheerfully. "You come 
 along on your own terms, so long as you get out of these 
 quarters. I'll tell the dead partner story only the part- 
 ner must have a name, you know. Montana is a good 
 name, but it is only a half one, after all. You can give 
 me another, I reckon." 
 
 She hesitated a little and stared at the glowing em- 
 bers of the lodge fire. He wondered if she was deciding 
 to tell him a true one, or if she was trying to think of a 
 fictitious one. 
 
 "Well?" he said at last. 
 
 Then she looked up, and the sullen, troubled, unchild- 
 like eyes made him troubled for her sake. 
 
 "Rivers is a good name Rivers?" she asked, and he 
 nodded his head, grimly. 
 
 "That will do," he agreed. "But you give it just be- 
 cause you were baptized in the river this evening, don't 
 you?" 
 
 "I guess I give it because I haven't any other I intend 
 to be called by," she answered. 
 
 "And you will cut loose from this outfit?" he asked. 
 "You will come with me, little girl, across there into 
 God's country, where you must belong." 
 
 "You won't let them look down on me?" 
 
 "If any one looks down on you, it will be because of 
 
4:4: THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 something you will do in the future, 'Tana/' he said, 
 looking at her very steadily. "Understand that, for I will 
 settle it that no one knows how I came across you. And 
 you will go?" 
 
 "I will go." 
 
 "Come, now! that's a good decision the best you 
 could have made, little girl ; and I'll take care of you as 
 though you were a cargo of gold. Shake hands on the 
 agreement, won't you?" 
 
 She held out her hand, and the old squaw in the 
 corner grunted at the symbol of friendship. Akkomi 
 watched them with his glittering eyes, but made no sign. 
 
 It surely was a strange beginning to a strange friend- 
 ship. 
 
 "You poor little thing!" said Overton, compassion- 
 ately, as she half shrank from the clasp of his fingers. The 
 tender tone broke through whatever wall of indifference 
 she had built about her, for she flung herself face down- 
 ward on the couch, and sobbed passionately, refusing to 
 speak again, though Overton tried in vain to calm her. 
 
THE IMAGE-MAKER 45 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE IMAGE-MAKER. 
 
 The world was a night older ere Dan Overton in- 
 formed Lyster that they would have an addition of one 
 to their party when they continued their journey into the 
 States. 
 
 On leaving the village of Akkomi but little conversa- 
 tion was to be had from Dan. In vain did his friend en- 
 deavor to learn something of the white squaw who swam 
 so well. He simply kept silence, and looked with pro- 
 voking disregard on all attempts to surprise him into dis- 
 closures. 
 
 But when the camp breakfast was over, and he had 
 evidently thought out his plan of action, he told Lyster 
 over the sociable influence of a pipe, that he was going 
 over to the camp of Akkomi again. 
 
 "The fact, is, Max, that the girl we saw yesterday is 
 to go across home with us. She's a ward of mine." 
 
 "What!" demanded Max, sitting bolt upright in his 
 amazement, "a ward of yours? You say that as though 
 you had several scattered among the tribes about here. 
 So it is a Kootenai Pocahontas ! What good advice was 
 it you gave me yesterday about keeping clear of Selkirk 
 Range females ? And now you are deliberately gathering 
 one to yourself, and I will be the unnecessary third on 
 our journey home. Dan ! Dan ! I wouldn't have thought 
 it of you !" 
 4 
 
4G THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 Overton listened in silence until the first outburst was 
 over. 
 
 "Through?" he asked, carelessly; "well, then, it isn't 
 a Pocahontas ; it isn't an Indian at all. It is only a little 
 white girl whose father was was an old partner. Well, 
 he's gone 'over the range' dead, you know and the 
 girl is left to hustle for herself. Naturally, she heard I 
 was in this region, and as none of her daddy's old friend > 
 were around but me, she just made her camp over there 
 with the Kootenais, and waited till I reached the river 
 again. She'll go with me down to Sinna; and if she 
 hasn't any other home in prospect, I'll just locate her there 
 with Mrs. Huzzard, the milliner-cook, for the present. 
 Now, that's the story." 
 
 "And a very pretty little one it is, too," agreed Mr. 
 Max. "For a backwoodsman, who is not supposed to 
 have experience, it is very well put together. Oh, don't 
 frown like that! I'll believe she's your granddaughter, 
 if you say so," and he laughed in wicked enjoyment at 
 Overton's flushed face. "It's all right, Dan. I congrat- 
 ulate you. But I wouldn't have thought it." 
 
 "I suppose, now," remarked Dan, witheringly, "that 
 by all these remarks and giggles you are trying to be 
 funny. Is that it? Well, as the fun of it is not visible 
 to me yet, I'll just keep my laughter till it is. In the 
 meantime, I'm going over to call on my ward, Miss 
 Rivers, and you can hustle for funny things around camp 
 until I come back." 
 
 "Oh, say, Dan, don't be vindictive. Take me along, 
 won't you? I'll promise to be good 'pon honor I will. 
 I'll do penance for any depraved suspicions I may have 
 indulged in. I'll I'll even shake hands again with 
 
THE IMAGE-MAKER 47 
 
 Black Bow, there ! Beyond that, I can think of no more 
 earnest testimony of repentance." 
 
 "I shall go by myself," decided Overton. "So make 
 a note of it, if you see the young lady before to-morrow, 
 it will be because she specially requests it. Understand? 
 I'm not going to have her bothered by people who are 
 only curious ; not but that she can take her own part, as 
 you'll maybe learn later. But she was too upset to talk 
 much last night. So I'll go over and finish this morning, 
 and in the meantime, this side of the river is plenty 
 good enough for you." 
 
 "Is it?" murmured Mr. Lyster, as he eyed the stal- 
 wart form of the retreating guardian, who was so bent 
 on guarding. "Well, it would do my heart good, any- 
 way, to fasten another canoe right alongside of yours 
 where you land over there, and I shouldn't be surprised 
 if I did it." 
 
 Thus it happened that while Overton was skimming 
 upward across the river, his friend, on mischief bent, 
 was getting a canoe ready to launch. A few minutes 
 after Overton had disappeared toward the Indian village, 
 the second canoe danced lightly over the Kootenai, and 
 the occupant laughed to himself, as he anticipated the 
 guardian's surprise. 
 
 "Not that I care in the least about seeing the dismal 
 damsel he has to look after," mused Lyster. "In fact, 
 I'm afraid she'll be a nuisance, and spoil our jolly good 
 time all the way home. But he is so refreshingly earnest 
 about everything. And as he doesn't care a snap for 
 girls in general, it is all the more amusing that it 
 is he who should have a charge of that sort left on his 
 hands. I'd like to know what she looks like. Common, 
 
48 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 I dare say, for the ultra refined do not penetrate these 
 wilds to help blaze trails ; and she swam like a boy." 
 
 When he reached the far shore, no one was in sight. 
 With satisfied smiles, he fastened his canoe to that of 
 Overton, and then cast about for some place to lie in 
 wait for that selfish personage and surprise him on his 
 return. 
 
 He had no notion of going up to the village, for he 
 wanted only to keep close enough to trace Overton. 
 Hearing children's voices farther along the shore, he 
 sauntered that way, thinking to see Indian games, per- 
 haps. When he came nearer, he saw they were running 
 races. 
 
 The contestants were running turn about, two at a 
 time. Each victory was greeted with shrill cries of 
 triumph. He also noticed that each victor returned to a 
 figure seated close under some drooping bushes, and 
 each time a hand was reached out and some little prize 
 was given to the winner. Then, with shouts of rejoicing, 
 a new race was planned. 
 
 As the stranger stood back of the thick bushes, watch- 
 ing the stretch of level beach and the half-naked, childish 
 figures, he grew curious to see who that one person just 
 out of sight was. 
 
 One thing at last he did discover that the hand 
 awarding the prizes was tanned like the hand of a boy, 
 but that it certainly had white blood instead of red in 
 its veins. What if it should be the ward ? 
 
 Elated, and full of mischief, he crept closer. If only 
 he could be able to give Overton a description of her 
 when Overtoil came back to the canoe ! 
 
 At first all he could see were the hands hands play- 
 ing with a bit of wet clay or so it seemed to him. 
 
THE IMAGE-MAKER 49 
 
 Then his curiosity was more fully aroused when out 
 of the mass a recognizable form was apparent a crudely 
 modeled head and shoulders of a decided Indian character. 
 
 Lyster was so close now that he could notice how small 
 the hands were, and to see that the head bent above them 
 was covered with short, brown, loosely curled hair, and 
 that there was just a tinge of reddish gold on it, where 
 the sunlight fell. 
 
 A race was just ended, and one of the little young 
 savages trotted up where the image-maker was. The 
 small hand was again reached out, and he could see that 
 the prize the little Indian had raced for was a blue bead 
 of glass. He could see, also, that the owner of the hand 
 had the face of a girl a girl with dark eyes, and long 
 lashes that touched the rather pale cheeks. Her mouth 
 was deliciously saucy, with its bow-4ike curve, and its 
 clear redness. She said something he did not under- 
 stand, and the children scampered away to resume the 
 endless races, while she continued the manipulation of 
 the clay, frowning often when it would not take the de- 
 sired form. 
 
 Then one of the sharp-eyed little redskins left his com- 
 panions and slipped back to her, and said something in 
 a tone so low it was almost a whisper. 
 
 She turned at once and looked directly into the thicket, 
 back of which Lyster stood. 
 
 "What are you watching for?" she demanded. "I 
 don't like people who are afraid to show themselves." 
 
 "Well, I'll try to change that as quickly as I can," 
 Lyster retorted, and circling the clump of bushes, he 
 stood before her with his hat in his hand, looking smil- 
 ingly audacious as she frowned on him. 
 
 But the frown faded as she looked; perhaps because 
 
50 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 Tana had never seen any one quite so handsome in all 
 her life, or so fittingly and picturesquely dressed, for 
 Mr. Maxwell Lyster was artist enough to make the most 
 of his many good points and to exhibit them all with 
 charming unconsciousness. 
 
 "I hope you will like me better here than across 
 there," he said, with a smile that was contagious. "You 
 see, I was too shy to come forward at first, and then I 
 was afraid to interrupt your modeling. It is very good/* 
 
 "You don't look shy," she said, combatively, and drew 
 the clay image back, where he could not look at it. She 
 was not at all sure that he was not laughing at her, 
 and she covered her worn shoes with the skirt of her 
 dress, feeling suddenly very poor and shabby in the 
 light of his eyes. She had not felt at all like that when 
 Overton looked at her in Akkomi's lodge. 
 
 "You would not be so unfriendly if you knew who I 
 am," he ventured meekly. "Of course, I Max Lyster 
 don't amount to much, but I happen to be Dan Over- 
 ton's friend, and with your permission, I hope to continue 
 with him to Sinna Ferry, and with you as well ; for I am 
 sure you must be Miss Rivers." 
 
 "If you're sure, that settles it, I suppose," she re- 
 turned. "So he he told you about me?" 
 
 "Oh, yes; we are chums, as you will learn. Then I 
 was so fortunate as to see your brave swim after that 
 child yesterday. You don't look any the worse for it." 
 
 "No, I'm not." 
 
 "I suppose, now, you thought that little dip a welcome 
 break in the monotony of camp-life, while you were wait- 
 ing for Dan." 
 
 She looked at him in a quick, questioning way he 
 thought odd. 
 
THE IMAGE-MAKER 51 
 
 "Oh yes. While I was waiting for Dan," she said 
 in a queer tone, and bent her head over the clay image. 
 
 He thought her very interesting with her boyish air, 
 her brusqueness, and independence. Yet, despite her 
 savage surroundings, a certain amount of education was 
 visible in her speech and manner, and her face had no 
 stamp of ignorance on it. 
 
 The young Kootenais silently withdrew from their 
 races, and gathered watchfully close to the girl. Their 
 nearness was a discomfiting thing to Lyster, for it was 
 not easy to carry on a conversation under their watchful 
 eyes. 
 
 "You gave them prizes, did you not ?" he asked. "How 
 much wealth must one offer to get them to run?" 
 
 ''Run where?" she returned carelessly, though quietly 
 amused at the scrutiny of the little redskins. They were 
 especially charmed by the glitter of gold mountings on 
 Mr. Lyster's watch-guard. 
 
 "Oh, run races run anywhere," he said. 
 
 From a pocket of her blouse she drew forth a few blue 
 beads that yet remained. 
 
 "This is all I had to give them, and they run just as 
 fast for one of these as they would for a pony." 
 
 "Good enough ! I'll have some races for my own edi- 
 fication and comfort," and he drew out some coins. "Will 
 you run for this run far over there?" 
 
 The children looked at the girl. She nodded her head, 
 said a word or two unintelligible to him, but perfectly 
 clear to them; for, with sharp looks at the coins and 
 pleased yells, they leaped away to their racing. 
 
 "Now, this is more comfortable," he said. "May I 
 sit down here ? Thanks ! Now would you mind telling 
 me whose likeness it is you are making in the clay ?" 
 
52 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "I guess you know it's nobody's likeness," she an- 
 swered, and again thrust it back out of sight, her face 
 flushing that he should thus make a jest of her poor 
 efforts. "You've seen real statues, I suppose, and know 
 how they ought to be, but you don't need to look for 
 them in the Purcell Range." 
 
 "But, indeed, I am in earnest about your modeling. 
 Won't you believe me?" and the blue eyes looking into 
 her own were so appealing, that she turned away her head 
 half shyly, and a pink flush crept up from her throat. 
 Miss Rivers was evidently not used to eyes with caress- 
 ive tendencies and they disturbed her, for all her 
 strangely unchildlike character. 
 
 "Of course, your work is only in the rough," he con- 
 tinued ; "but it is not at all bad, and has real Indian fea- 
 tures. And if you have had no teaching " 
 
 "Huh !" and she looked at him with a mirthless smile. 
 "Where'd any one get teaching of that sort along the 
 Columbia River? Of course, there are some gentlemen 
 officers and such about the reservations, but not one 
 but would only laugh at such a big girl making doll 
 babies out of mud. No, I had no teaching to do anything 
 but read, and I did read some in a book about a sculptor, 
 and how he made animals and people's faces out of clay. 
 Then I tried." 
 
 As she grew communicative, she seemed so much more 
 what she really was in years a child ; and he noticed, 
 with satisfaction, that she looked at him more frankly, 
 while the suspicion faded almost entirely from her face. 
 
 "And are you going to develop into a sculptor under 
 Overton's guardianship?" he asked. "You see, he has 
 told me of his good luck." 
 
THE IMAGE-MAKER 53 
 
 She made a queer little sound between a laugh and 
 a grunt. 
 
 "I'll bet the rest of the blue beads he didn't call it- 
 good luck," she returned, looking at him keenly. "Now, 
 honest Injun did he?" 
 
 "Honest Injun! he didn't speak of it as either good 
 or bad luck ; simply as a matter of course, that at your 
 father's death you should look him up, and let him know 
 you were alone. Oh, he is a good fellow, Dan is, and 
 glad, I am sure, to be of use to you." 
 
 Her lips opened in a little sigh of content, and a swift, 
 radiant smile was given him. 
 
 "I'm right glad you say that about him," she answered, 
 "and I guess you know him well, too. Akkomi likes him, 
 and Akkomi's sharp." 
 
 The winner of the race here trotted back for the coin, 
 and Lyster showed another one, as an incentive for all 
 to scatter along the beach again. It looked as though 
 the two white people must pay for the grant of privacy 
 on the river-bank. 
 
 Having grown more at ease with him, 'Tana resumed 
 again the patting and pressing of the clay, using only 
 a little pointed stick, while Lyster watched, with curi- 
 osity, the ingenious way in which she seemed to feel 
 her way to form. 
 
 "Have you ever tried to draw ?" he asked. 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 "Only to copy pictures, like I've seen in some papers, 
 but they never looked right. But I want to do every- 
 thing like that to make pictures, and statues, and music, 
 and oh, all the lovely things there are somewhere, that 
 I've never seen never will see them, I suppose. Some- 
 times, when I get to thinking that I never will see them, 
 
54 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 I just get as ugly as a drunken man, and I don't care 
 if I never do see anything but Indians again. I get so 
 awful reckless. Say !" she said, again with that hard, 
 short laugh, "girls back your way don't get wild like that, 
 do they? They don't talk my way either, I guess." 
 
 "Maybe not, and few of them would be able, either, 
 to do what we saw you do in this river yesterday," he 
 said kindly. "Dan is a judge of such things, you know, 
 and he thought you very nervy." 
 
 "Nervy? Oh, yes; I guess he'd be nervy himself if 
 he was needed. Say ! can you tell me about the camp, 
 or settlement, at this Sinna Ferry? I never was there. 
 He says white women are there. Do you know them?" 
 
 Lyster explained his own ignorance of the place, 
 knowing it as he did only through Dan's descriptions. 
 
 Then she, from her bit of Indian knowledge, told him 
 Sinna was the old north Indian name for Beaver. Then 
 he got her to tell him other things of the Indian country, 
 things of ghost-haunted places and strange witcheries, 
 with which they confused the game and the fish. He 
 fell to wondering what manner of man Rivers, the part- 
 ner of Dan, had been, that his daughter had gained such 
 strange knowledge of the wild things. But any attempt 
 to learn or question her history beyond yesterday was 
 always checked in some way or other. 
 
DAN'S WARD 55 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DAN'S WARD. 
 
 Mr. Max Lyster was not given to the study of deep 
 problems ; his habits of thought did not run in that groove. 
 But he did watch the young stranger with unusual in- 
 terest. Her face puzzled him as much as her presence 
 there. 
 
 "I feel as though I 'had seen you before," he said at 
 last, and her face grew a shade paler. She did not look 
 up, and when she spoke, it was very curtly: 
 
 "Where?" 
 
 "Oh, I don't know in fact, I believe it is a resem- 
 blance to some one I know that makes me feel that way." 
 
 "I look like some one you know?" 
 
 "Well, yes, you do a little a lady who is a little 
 older than you a little more of a brunette than you; 
 yet there is a likeness." 
 
 "Where does she live and what is her name?" she 
 asked, with scant ceremony. 
 
 "I don't suppose her name would tell you much," he, 
 answered. "But it is Miss Margaret Haydon, of Phil- 
 adelphia." 
 
 "Miss Margaret Haydon," she said slowly, almost con- 
 temptuously. "So you know her?" 
 
 "You speak as though you did," he answered; "and 
 as if you did not like the name, either/' 
 
 "But you think it's pretty," she said, looking at him 
 sharply. "No, I don't know such swells don't want to." 
 
56 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "How do you know she is a swell?" 
 
 "Oh, there's a man owns big works across the country, 
 and that's his name. I suppose they are all of a lot,'* 
 she said, indifferently. "Say! are there any girls at 
 Sinna Ferry, any family folks? Dan didn't tell me 
 only said there was a white woman there, and I could 
 live with her. He hasn't a wife, has he ?" 
 
 "Dan?" and he laughed at the idea, "well, no. He is 
 very kind to women, but I can't imagine the sort of 
 woman he would marry. He is a queer fish, you know." 
 
 "I guess you'll think we're all that up in this wild 
 country," she observed. "Does he know much about 
 books and such things?" 
 
 "Such things?" 
 
 "Oh, you know ! things of the life in the cities, where 
 there's music and theaters. I love the theaters and pic- 
 tures ! and and well, everything like that." 
 
 Lyster watched her brightening face, and appreciated 
 all the longing in it for the things he liked well himself. 
 And she loved the theaters! All his own boyish en- 
 thusiasm of years ago crowded into his memory, as he 
 looked at her. 
 
 "You have seen plays, then?" he asked, and won- 
 dered where she had seen them along that British Co- 
 lumbia line. 
 
 "Seen plays! Yes, in 'Frisco, and Portland, and Vic- 
 toria big, real theaters, you know; and then others in 
 the big mining camps. Oh, I just dream over plays, 
 when I do see them, specially when the actresses are 
 pretty. But I mostly like the villains better than the 
 heroes. Don't know why, but I do." 
 
 "What! you like to see their wickedness prosper?" 
 
 "No I think not," she said, doubtfully. "But I tell 
 
DAN'S WARD 5T 
 
 you, the heroes are generally just too good to be live 
 men, that's all. And the villain mostly talks more nat- 
 ural, gets mad, you know, and breaks things, and rides 
 over the lay-out as though he had some nerve in him. 
 Of course, they always make him throw up his hands in 
 the end, and every man in the audience applauds even 
 the ones who would act just as he does if such a pretty 
 hero was in their way." 
 
 "Well, you certainly have peculiar ideas of theatrical 
 personages for a young lady," decided Lyster, laugh- 
 ing. "And why you have a grievance against the ortho- 
 dox handsome hero, I can't see." 
 
 "He's too good," she insisted, with the little frown 
 appearing between her brows, "and no one is ever started 
 in the play with a fair chance against him. He is al- 
 ways called Willie, where the villain would be called 
 Bill now, isn't he? Then the girl in the story always 
 falls in love with him at first sight, and that's enough to 
 rile any villain, especially when he wants her himself." 
 
 "Oh !" and the face of the young man was a study, as 
 he inspected this wonderful ward of Dan. Whatever 
 he had expected from the young swimmer of the Koote- 
 nai, from the welcomed guest of Akkomi, he had not 
 expected this sort of thing. 
 
 She was twisting her pretty mouth, with a schoolgirl's 
 earnestness, over a problem, and accenting thus her 
 patient forming of the clay face. She built no barriers 
 up between herself and this handsome stranger, as she 
 had in the beginning with Overton. What she had to say 
 was uttered with all freedom her likes, her thoughts, 
 her ambitions. At first the fineness and perfection of his 
 apparel had been as grandeur and insolence when con- 
 trasted with her own weather-stained, coarse skirt of 
 
58 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 wool, and her boy's blouse belted with a strap of leather. 
 Even the blue beads her one feminine bit of adornment 
 had been stripped from her throat, that she might give 
 some pleasure to the little bronze-tinted runners on the 
 shore. But the gently modulated, sympathetic tones of 
 Lyster and the kindly fellowship in his eyes, when he 
 looked at her, almost made her forget her own shab- 
 biness (all but those hideous coarse shoes!) for he talked 
 to her with the grace of the people in the plays she loved 
 so, and had not once spoken as though to a stray found 
 in the shelter of an Indian camp. 
 
 But he did look curious when she expressed those in- 
 dependent ideas on questions over which most girls 
 would blush or appear at least a little conscious. 
 
 "So, you would put a veto on love at first sight, would 
 you?" he asked, laughingly. "And the beauty of the 
 hero would not move you at all ? What a very odd young 
 lady you would have me think you! I believe love at 
 first sight is generally considered, by your age and sex, 
 the pinnacle of all things hoped for." 
 
 A little color did creep into her face at the unnecessary 
 personal construction put on her words. She frowned 
 to hide her embarrassment and thrust out her lips in a 
 manner that showed she had little vanity as to her features 
 and their attractiveness. 
 
 "But I don't happen to be a young lady," she retorted ; 
 "and we think as we please up here in the bush. Maybe 
 your proper young ladies would be very odd, too, if 
 they were brought up out here like boys." 
 
 She arose to her feet, and he saw more clearly then 
 how slight she was; her form and face were much more 
 childish in character than her speech, and the face was 
 looking at him with resentful eyes. 
 
DAN'S WARD 59 
 
 "I'm going back to camp." 
 
 "Now, I've offended you, haven't I?" he asked, in sur- 
 prise. "Really, I did not mean to. Won't you forgive 
 me?" 
 
 She dug her heel in the sand and did not answer ; but 
 the fact that she remained at all assured him she would 
 relent. He was amused at her quick show of temper. 
 W r hat a prospect for Dan ! 
 
 "I scarcely know what I said to vex you," he began; 
 but she flashed a sullen look at him. 
 
 "You think I'm odd and and a nobody; just be- 
 cause I ain't like fine young ladies you know some- 
 wheres like Miss Margaret Haydon," and she dug the 
 sand away with vicious little kicks. "Nice ladies with 
 kid slippers on," she added, derisively, "the sort that al- 
 ways falls in love with the pretty man, the hero. Huh ! 
 I've seen some men who were heroes real ones and 
 I never saw a pretty one yet." 
 
 As she said it, she looked very straight into the very 
 handsome face of Mr. Lyster. 
 
 "A young Tartar!" he decided, mentally, while he 
 actually colored at the directness of her gaze and her 
 sweepingly contemptuous opinion of "pretty men." 
 
 "I see I'd better vacate your premises since you appear 
 unwilling to forgive me even my unintentional faults," 
 he decided, meekly. "I'm very sorry, I'm sure, and hope 
 you will bear no malice. Of course I nobody would 
 want you to be different from what you are ; so you 
 must not think I meant that. I had hoped you would let 
 me buy that clay bust as a memento of this morning, 
 but I'm afraid to ask favors now. I can only hope that 
 you will speak to me again to-morrow. Until then, good- 
 by." 
 
60 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 She raised her eyes sullenly at first, but they dropped, 
 ashamed, before the kindness of his own. She felt 
 coarse and clumsy, and wished she had not been so 
 quick to quarrel. And he was turning away! Maybe 
 he would never speak nicely to her again, and she loved 
 to hear him speak. 
 
 Then her hand was thrust out to him, and in it was 
 the little clay model. 
 
 "You can have it. I'll give it to you," she said, quite 
 humbly. "It ain't very pretty, but if you like it " 
 
 Thus ended the first of many differences between 
 Dan's ward and Dan's friend. 
 
 When Daniel Overton himself came stalking down 
 among the Indian children, looking right and left from 
 tinder his great slouch hat, he halted suddenly, and with 
 his lips closed somewhat grimly, stood there watching 
 the rather pretty picture before him. 
 
 But the prettiness of it did not seem to appeal to him 
 strongly. He looked on the girl's half smiling, drooped 
 face, on Lyster, who held the model and his hat in one 
 hand and, with his handsome blonde head bared, held out 
 his other hand to her, saying something in those low, 
 deferential tones Dan knew so well. 
 
 Her hand was given after a little hesitation. When 
 they beheld Dan so near them, the hands were un- 
 clasped and each looked confused. 
 
 Mr. Lyster was the first to recover, and adjusting his 
 head covering once more, he held up the clay model to 
 view. 
 
 "Thought you'd be around before long," he remarked, 
 with a provoking gleam in his eyes. "I really had no 
 hope of meeting Miss Rivers before you this morning; 
 but fortune favors the brave, you know, and fortune sent 
 
DAN'S WARD 61 
 
 me right along these sands for my morning walk a 
 most indulgent fortune, for, look at this ! Did you know 
 your ward is an embryo sculptress?" 
 
 The older man looked indifferently enough at the ex- 
 alted bit of clay. 
 
 "I leave discoveries of that sort to you. They seem 
 to run in your line more than mine," he answered, briefly. 
 Then he turned to the girl. "Akkomi told me you were 
 here with the children, 'Tana. If you had other com- 
 pany, Akkomi would have made him welcome." 
 
 He did not speak unkindly, yet she felt that in some 
 way he was not pleased ; and perhaps perhaps he would 
 change his mind and leave her where he found her! 
 And if so, she might never see either of their faces 
 again! As the thought came to her, she looked up at 
 Dan in a startled way, and half put out her hand. 
 
 "I I did not know. I don't like the lodges. It is 
 better here by the river. It is your friend that came, 
 and I" 
 
 "Certainly. You need not explain. And as you seem 
 to know each other, I need not do any introducing," he 
 answered, as she seemed to grow confused. "But I have 
 a little time to talk to you this morning and so came 
 early." 
 
 "Which means that I can set sail for the far shore," 
 added Lyster, amiably. "All right; I'm gone. Good- 
 by till to-morrow, Miss Rivers. I'm grateful for the clay 
 Indian, and more grateful that you have agreed to be 
 friends with me again. Will you believe, Dan, that 
 in our short acquaintance of half an hour, we have had 
 time for one quarrel and 'make up'? It is true. And 
 now that she is disposed to accept me as a traveling com- 
 
 5 
 
62 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 panion, don't you spoil it by giving me a bad name when 
 my back is turned. I'll wait at the canoes." 
 
 With a wave of his hat, he passed out of sight around 
 the clump of bushes, and down along the shore, singing 
 cheerily, and the words floated back to them: 
 
 "Come, love! come, love! 
 
 My boat lies low; 
 She lies high and dry 
 On the Ohio." 
 
 Overton stood looking at the girl for a little time after 
 Lyster disappeared. His eyes were very steady and 
 searching, as though he began to realize the care a ward 
 might be, especially when the antecedents and past life 
 of the ward were so much of stubborn mystery to him. 
 
 "I wonder," he said, at last, "if there is any chance of 
 your being my friend, too, in so short a time as a half- 
 hour? Oh, well, never mind," he added, as he saw the 
 red mouth tremble, and tears show in her eyes as she 
 looked at him. "Only don't commence by disliking, 
 that's all; for unfriendliness is a bad thing in a house- 
 hold, let alone in a canoe, and I can be of more down- 
 right use to you, if you give me all the confidence you 
 can." 
 
 "I know what you mean that I must tell you about 
 about how I came here, and all; but I won't!" she 
 burst out. "I'll die here before I do ! I hated the people 
 they said were my people. I was glad when they were 
 dead glad glad! Oh, you'll say it's wicked to think 
 that way about relatives. Maybe it is, but it's natural 
 if they've always been wicked to you. I'll go to the 
 bad place, I reckon, for feeling this way, and I'll just 
 have to go, for I can't feel any other way." 
 
DAN'S WARD 63 
 
 " 'Tana 'Tana!" and his hand fell on her shoulder, 
 as though to shake her away from so wild a mood. "You 
 are only a girl yet. When you are older, you will be 
 ashamed to say you ever hated your parents whoever 
 they were your mother !" 
 
 "I ain't saying anything about her," she answered 
 bitterly. "She died before I can mind. I've been told 
 she was a lady. But I won't ever use the name again 
 she used. I I want to start square with the world, if 
 I leave these Indians, and I can't do it unless I change 
 my name and try to forget the old one. It has a curse on 
 it it has." 
 
 She was trembling with nervousness, and her eyes, 
 though tearless, were stormy and rebellious. 
 
 "You'll think I'm bad, because I talk this way," she 
 continued, "but I ain't I ain't. I've fought when I had 
 to, and and I'd swear sometimes; but that's all the 
 bad I ever did do. I won't any more if you take me with 
 you. I I can cook and keep house for you, if you hain't 
 got folks of your own, and I do want to go with you." 
 
 "Come, love! come! 
 
 Won't you go along with me? 
 And I'll take you back 
 
 To old Tennessee!" 
 
 The words of the handsome singer came clearly back 
 to them. Overton, about to speak, heard the words of 
 the song, and a little smile, half-bitter, half-sad, touched 
 his lips as he looked at her. 
 
 "I see," he said, quietly, "you care more about going 
 to-day, than you did when I talked to you last night. 
 Well, that's all right. And I reckon you can make 
 coffee for me as long as you like. That mayn't be long, 
 
64: THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 though, for some of the young fellows will be wanting 
 you to keep house for them before many years, and you'll 
 naturally do it. How old are you ?" 
 
 "I'm past sixteen," she said, in a deprecating way, 
 as though ashamed of her years and her helplessness. 
 "I'm old enough to work, and I will work if I get where 
 it's any use trying. But I won't keep house for any one 
 but you." 
 
 "Won't you?" he asked, doubtfully. "Well, I've an 
 idea you may. But we'll talk about that when the time 
 comes. This morning I wanted to talk of something 
 else before we start you and Max and I down into 
 Idaho. I'm not asking the name of the man you hate 
 so; but if I am to acknowledge him as an old acquaint- 
 ance of mine, you had better tell me what business he 
 was in. You see, it might save complications if any 
 one should run across us some day and know." 
 
 "No one will know me," she said, decidedly. "If I 
 didn't know that, I'd stay right here, I think. And as 
 to him, my fond parent," and she made a grimace "I 
 guess you can call him a prospector and speculator 
 either of those would be correct. I think they called him 
 Jim, when he was christened." 
 
 "Akkomi said last night you had been on the trail 
 hunting for some one. Was it a friend, or or any one 
 I could help you look for ?" 
 
 "No, it wasn't a friend, and I'm done with the search 
 and glad of it. Did you," she added, looking at him 
 darkly, "ever put in time hunting for any one you didn't 
 want to find?" 
 
 Without knowing it, Miss Rivers must have tottched 
 on a subject rather sensitive to her guardian, for his 
 
DAN'S WARD 6 
 
 face flushed, and he gazed at her with a curious expres- 
 sion in his eyes. 
 
 "Maybe I have, little girl," he said at last. "I reckon 
 I know how to let your troubles alone, anyway, if I 
 can't help them. But I must tell you, Max Max Lyster, 
 you know will be the only one very curious about your 
 presence here as to the route you came, etc. You had 
 better be prepared for that." 
 
 "It won't be very hard," she answered, "for I came 
 over from Sproats' Landing, up to Karlo, and back down 
 here." 
 
 "Over from Sproats you?" he asked, looking at her 
 nervously. "I heard nothing of a white girl making that 
 trip. When, and how did you do it?" 
 
 "Two weeks ago, and on foot," was the laconic reply. 
 "As I had only a paper of salt and some matches, I 
 couldn't afford to travel in high style, so I footed it. I 
 had a ring and a blanket, and I traded them up at Karla 
 for an old tub of a dugout, and got here in that." 
 
 "You had some one with you?" 
 
 "I was alone." 
 
 Overton looked at her with more of amazement than 
 she had yet inspired in him. He thought of that in- 
 describably wild portage trail from the Columbia to the 
 Kootenai. When men crossed it, they preferred to go 
 in company, and this slip of a girl had dared its lone- 
 liness, its dangers alone. He thought of the stories of 
 death, by which the trail was haunted; of prospectors 
 who had verged from that dim path and had been lost 
 in the wilderness, where their bones were found by In- 
 dians or white hunters long after; of strange stories of 
 wild beasts; of all the weird sounds of the jungles; of 
 places where a misstep would send one lifeless to the 
 
66 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 jagged feet of huge precipices. And through that trail 
 of terror she had walked alone ! 
 
 "I have nothing more to ask," he said briefly. "But 
 it is not necessary to tell any of the white people you 
 meet that you made the trip alone." 
 
 "I know," she said, humbly, "they'd think it either 
 wasn't true or or else that it oughtn't to be true. I 
 know how they'd look at me and whisper things. But 
 if if you believe me " 
 
 She paused uncertainly, and looked up at him. All 
 the rebellion and passion had faded out of her eyes now ; 
 they were only appealing. What a wild, changeable 
 creature she was with those quick contrasts of temper ! 
 wild as the name she bore Montana the mountains. 
 Something like that thought came into his mind as he 
 looked at her. 
 
 He had gathered other wild things from his trips into 
 the wilderness ; young bears with which to enliven camp 
 life; young fawns that he had loved and cared for, be- 
 cause of the beauty of eyes and form; even a pair of 
 kittens had been carried by him across into the States, 
 and developed into healthy, marauding panthers. One of 
 these had set its teeth through the flesh of his hand 
 one day ere he could conquer and kill it, and his fawns, 
 cubs and smaller pets had drifted from him back to their 
 forests, or else into the charge of some other prospector 
 who had won their affections. 
 
 He remembered them, and the remembrance lent a 
 curious character to the smile in his eyes, as he held 
 out his hand to her. 
 
 "I do believe you, for it is only cowards who tell lies ; 
 and I don't believe you'd make a good coward would 
 you?" 
 
DAN'S WARD 67 
 
 She did not answer, but her face flushed with pleasure, 
 and she looked up at him gratefully. He seemed to like 
 that better than words. 
 
 "Akkomi called you 'Girl-not-Afraid,' " he continued. 
 "And if I were a redskin, too, I would look up an eagle 
 feather for you to wear in your hair. I reckon you've 
 heard that only the braves dare wear eagle feathers." 
 
 "I know, but I" 
 
 "But you have earned them by your own confession," 
 he said, kindly, "and some day I may run across them 
 for you. In the meantime, I have only this." 
 
 He held out a beaded belt of Indian manufacture, a 
 pretty thing, and she opened her eyes in glad surprise, 
 as he offered it to her. 
 
 "For me? Oh, Dan! Mr. Overton I " 
 
 She paused, confused at having called him as the In- 
 dians called him; but he smiled understandingly. 
 
 "We'll settle that name business right here," he sug- 
 gested. "You call me Dan, if it comes easier to you. 
 Just as I call you 'Tana. I don't know 'Mr. Overton' 
 very well myself in this country, and you needn't trouble 
 yourself to remember him. Dan is shorter. If I had a 
 sister, she'd call me Dan, I suppose ; so I give you license 
 to do so. As to the belt, I got it, with some other plun- 
 der, from some Columbia River reds, and you use it. 
 There is some other stuff in Akkomi's tepee you'd better 
 put on, too; it's new stuff a whole dress and I think 
 the moccasins will about fit you. I brought over two 
 pairs, to make sure. Now, don't get any independent 
 notions in your head," he advised, as she looked at him 
 as though about to protest. "If you go to the States as 
 my ward, you must let me take the management of the 
 outfit. I got the dress for an army friend of mine, who 
 
68 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 wanted it for his daughter; but I guess it will about fit 
 you, and she will have to wait until next trip. Now, as 
 I've settled our business, I'll be getting back across the 
 river, so until to-morrow, klahowya" 
 
 She stood, awkward and embarrassed, before him. No 
 words would come to her lips to thank him. She had 
 felt desolate and friendless for so long, and now when 
 his kindness was so great, she felt as if she should cry 
 if she spoke at all. Just as she had cried the night be< 
 fore at his compassionate tones and touch. 
 
 Suddenly she bent forward for the belt, and witfi 
 some muttered words he could not distinguish, she 
 grasped his big hand in her little brown ringers, , and 
 touching it with her lips, twice thrice turned and ran 
 away as swiftly as the little Indians who had run on the 
 shore. 
 
 The warm color flushed all over Dan's face, as he 
 looked after her. Of course, she was only a little girl, 
 but he was devoutly glad Max was not in sight. Max 
 would not have understood aright. Then his eyes trav- 
 eled back to his hand, where her mouth had touched it. 
 Her kiss had fallen where the scar of the panther's teeth 
 was. 
 
 And this, also, was a wild thing he was taking from 
 the forests! 
 
AT SINNA FERRY 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AT SINNA FERRY. 
 
 "It has been young wolves, an' bears, an* other vicious 
 pets every formed thing, but snakes or redskins, and 
 at last it's that !" 
 
 "Tush, tush, captain! Now, it's not so bad. Why, I 
 declare, now, I was kind of pleased when I got sight of 
 her. She's white, anyway, and she's right smart." 
 
 "Smart !" The captain sniffed, dubiously. "We'll get 
 a chance to see about that later on, Mrs. Huzzard. But 
 it's like your hem! tender heart to have a good word 
 for all comers, and this is only another proof of it." 
 
 "Pshaw ! Now, you're making game, I guess. That's 
 what you're up to, captain," and Mrs. Huzzard attempted 
 a chaste blush and smile, and succeeded in a smirk. "I'm 
 sure, now, that to hem a few neckties an' sich like for 
 you is no good reason for thinking I'm doing the same 
 for every one that comes around. No, indeed ; my heart 
 ain't so tender as all that." 
 
 The captain, from under his sandy brows, looked with 
 a certain air of satisfaction at the well rounded person- 
 ality of Mrs. Huzzard. His vanity was gently pleased 
 she was a fine woman ! 
 
 "Well, I mightn't like it so well myself if I thought 
 you'd do as much for any man," he acknowledged. 
 "There's too many men at the Ferry who ain't fit even 
 to eat one of the pies you make." 
 
70 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 Mrs. Huzzard was fluting the edge of a pie at that 
 moment, and looked across the table at the captain, with 
 arch meaning. 
 
 "Maybe so ; but there's a right smart lot of fine-looking 
 fellows among them, too; there's no getting around 
 that." 
 
 The unintelligible mutter of disdain that greeted her 
 words seemed to bring a certain comfort to her wid- 
 owed heart, for she smiled brightly and flipped the com- 
 pleted pie aside, with an airy grace. 
 
 "Now now, Captain Leek, you can't be expecting 
 common grubbers of men to have all the advantages of 
 manners that you've got. No, sir; you can't. They 
 hain't had the bringing up. They hain't had the school- 
 ing, and they hain't had the soldier drills to teach them to 
 carry themselves like gentlemen. Now, you've had all 
 that, and it's a sight of profit to you. But don't be too 
 hard on the folks that ain't jest so finished like as you. 
 There's that new Rivers girl, now she ain't a bad sort, 
 though it is queer to see your boy Dan toting such a 
 stranger into camp, for he never did seem to take to girls 
 much did he?" 
 
 "It's not so easy to tell what he's taken to in his time," 
 returned the captain, darkly. "You know he isn't my 
 own boy, as I told you before. He was eight years old 
 when I married his mother, and after her death he took 
 the bit in his own teeth, and left home. No great grief 
 to me, for he wasn't a tender boy to manage!" And 
 Captain Leek heaved a sigh for the martyrdom he had 
 lived through. 
 
 "Oh, well, but see what a fine man he's turned out, and 
 I'm sure no own son could be better to you," for Mrs. 
 Huzzard was one of the large, comfortable bodies, who 
 
AT SINNA FERRY 71 
 
 never see any but the brightest side of affairs, and a good 
 deal of a peacemaker in the little circle where she had 
 taken up her abode. "Indeed, now, captain, you'll not 
 meet many such fine fellows in a day's tramp." 
 
 "If she'd even been a real Indian," he continued, dis- 
 contentedly, "it would have been easier to manage her 
 to to put her in some position where she could earn 
 her own living; for by Dan's words (few enough, too!) 
 I gather that she has no money back of her. She'll be a 
 dead weight on his hands, that's what she'll be, and an 
 expensive savage he'll find her, I'll prophesy." 
 
 "Like enough. Young ones of any sort do take a heap 
 of looking after. But she's smart, as I said before, and 
 I do think it's a sight better to make room for a likely 
 young girl than to be scared most to death with young 
 wolves and bears tied around for pets. I was all of a 
 shiver at night on account of them. I'll take the girl 
 every time. She won't scratch an' claw at folks, any- 
 way." 
 
 "Maybe not/' added the captain, who was too con- 
 tented with his discontent to let go of it at once. "But 
 no telling what a young animal like that may develop 
 into. She has no idea whatever of duty, Mrs. Huzzard, 
 or of of veneration. She contradicted me squarely this 
 morning when I made some comment about those beastly 
 redskins ; actually set up her ignorance against my years 
 of service under the American flag, Mrs. Huzzard. Yes, 
 madame! she did that," and Captain Leek arose in his 
 wrath and tramped twice across the room, halting again 
 near her table and staring at her as though defying her to 
 justify that. 
 
 When he arose, one could see by the slight unstead- 
 iness in his gait that the cane in his hand was for prac- 
 
72 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 tical use. His limp was not a deformity in fact, it 
 made him rather more interesting because of it; people 
 would notice or remember him when nothing else in his 
 personality would cause them to do so. 
 
 For Captain Alphonso Leek was not a striking-look- 
 ing personage. His blue eyes had a washed-out, quer- 
 ulous expression. His sandy whiskers had the appear- 
 ance of having been blown back from his chin, and 
 lodged just in front of his ears. An endeavor had been 
 made to train the outlying portions of his mustache in line 
 with the lengthy, undulating "mutton chops;" but they, 
 had, for well-grounded reasons, failed to connect, and 
 the effect was somewhat spoiled by those straggling 
 skirmishers, bristling with importance but waiting in 
 vain for recruits. The top of his head had got above 
 timber line and glistened in the sun of early summer 
 that streamed through the clear windows of Mrs. Huz- 
 zard's back room. 
 
 But as that head was generally covered by a hat that 
 sported a cord and tassel, and as his bulging breastbone 
 was covered by a dark-blue coat and vest, on which the 
 brass buttons shone in real military fashion well, all 
 those things had their weight in a community where few 
 men wore a coat at all in warm weather. 
 
 Mrs. Huzzard, in the depths of her being, thought it 
 would be a fine thing to go back to Pennsylvania as 
 "Mrs. Captain," even if the captain wasn't as forehanded 
 as she'd seen men. 
 
 Even the elegant way in which he could do nothing 
 and yet diffuse an air of importance, was impressive to 
 her admiring soul. The clerical whiskers and the mili- 
 tary dress completed the conquest. 
 
 But Mrs. Huzzard, having a bit of native wisdom still 
 
AT SINNA FERRY 73 
 
 left, knew he was a man who would need managing, 
 and that the best way was not to let his opinion rule 
 her in all things ; therefore, she only laughed cheerily at 
 his indignation. 
 
 "Well, captain, I can't say but she did flare up about 
 the Indians, when you said they were all thieves and 
 paupers, stealing from the Government, and all that. 
 But then, by what she says, she has knowed some decent 
 ones in her time friends of hers ; an' you know any one 
 must say a good word for a friend. You'd do that your- 
 self." 
 
 "Maybe; I don't say I wouldn't," he agreed. "But I 
 clo say, the friends would not be redskins. No, madame ! 
 They're no fit friends for a gentleman to cultivate; and 
 so I have told Dan. And if this girl owns such friends, 
 it shows plainly enough that the class she belongs to is 
 not a high one. Dan's mother was a lady, Mrs. Huzzard ! 
 She was my wife, madame! And it is a distress for me 
 to see any one received into our family who does not 
 come up to that same level. That is just the state of the 
 case, and I maintain my position in the matter; let Dan 
 take on all the temper he likes about it." 
 
 The lady of the pies did not respond to his remarks 
 at once. She had an idea that she herself might fall 
 under the ban of Captain Leek's discriminating eyes, 
 and be excluded from that upper circle of chosen human- 
 ity to which he was born and bred. He liked her pies, 
 her flap- jacks, and even the many kinds of boiled din- 
 ners she was in the habit of preparing and garnishing 
 with "dumplings." So far as his stomach was con- 
 cerned, she could rule supreme, for his digestion was of 
 the best and her "filling" dishes just suited him. But 
 Lorena Jane Huzzard had read in the papers some ro- 
 
74: THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 mances of the "gentle folk" he was fond of speaking of 
 in an intimate way. The gentle folk in her kind of 
 stories always had titles, military or civil, and were gen- 
 erally English lords and ladies ; the villains, as generally, 
 were French or Italian. But think as she might over the 
 whole list, she could remember none in which the high- 
 bred scion of blue blood had married either a cook or a 
 milliner. One might marry the milliner if she was very 
 young and madly beautiful, but Lorena Jane was neither. 
 She remembered also that beautiful though the milliner 
 or bailiff's daughter, or housekeeper's niece might be, 
 it was only the villain in high life who married her. 
 Then the marriage always turned out at last to be a 
 sham, and the milliner generally died of a broken heart 
 
 So Mrs. Huzzard sighed and, with a thoughtful face, 
 stirred up the batter pudding. 
 
 Captain Leek had given her food for reflection of 
 which he was little aware, and it was quite a little while 
 before she remembered to answer his remarks. 
 
 "So Mr. Dan is showing temper, too, is he? Well 
 well that's a pity. He's a good boy, captain. I 
 wouldn't waste my time to go against him, if I was you, 
 and there he is now. Good-morning, Mr. Dan! Come 
 right in! Breakfast over, but I'll get you up a bite at 
 any time, and welcome. It does seem right nice for you 
 to be back in town again." 
 
 Overton entered at her bidding, and smiled down from 
 his tall stature to the broad, good-natured face she 
 turned to him. 
 
 "Breakfast! Why, I'm thinking more about dinner, 
 Mrs. Huzzard. I was up in the hills last night, and had 
 a camp breakfast before you city folks were stirring. 
 Where's Tana?" 
 
AT SINNA FERRY 75 
 
 A dubious sniff from Captain Leek embarrassed Mrs. 
 Huzzard for a moment. She thought he meant to 
 answer and hesitated to give him a chance. But the 
 sniff seemed to express all he wanted to say, and she 
 flushed a little at its evident significance. 
 
 "Well, what's the matter now?" demanded the 
 younger man, impatiently, "where is she do you 
 know?" 
 
 "Oh why, yes of course we do," said Mrs. Huz- 
 zard hurriedly. "I didn't mean to leave you without an 
 answer no, indeed. But the fact is, the captain is set 
 against something I did this morning, but I do hope you 
 won't be. Whatever they know or don't know in sus- 
 siety, the girl was ignorant of it as could be when she 
 asked to go, and so was I when I let her. That's the 
 gospel truth, and I do hope you won't have hard feeling 
 against me for it." 
 
 He came a step nearer them both, and looked keenly 
 from one to the other even a little threateningly into 
 the watchful eyes of Captain Leek. 
 
 "Let her go! What do you mean? Where Out 
 with it!" 
 
 "Well, then, it was on the river she went, in one of 
 them tiltuppy Indian boats that I'm deathly afraid of. 
 But Mr. Lyster, he did promise faithfully he'd take good 
 care of her. And as she'd seemed a bit low-spirited this 
 morning, I thought it 'ud do her good, and I part told 
 her to run along. And to think of its being improper 
 for them to go together alone! Well, then, I never 
 did that's all !" 
 
 "Is it?" and Overton drew a long breath as of relief 
 and laughed shortly. "Well, you are perfectly right, 
 Mrs. Huzzard. There is nothing wrong about it, and 
 
76 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 don't you be worried into thinking there is. Max Lyster 
 is a gentleman didn't you ever happen to know one, 
 dad ? Heavens ! what a sinner you must have been in 
 your time, if you can't conceive two young folks going 
 out for an innocent boat ride. If any 'sky pilot' drifts 
 up this way, I'll explain your case to him and ask for 
 some tracts. Why, man, your conscience must be a 
 burden to you ! I understand, now, how it comes I find 
 your hair a little scarcer each time I run back to camp." 
 
 He had seated himself, and leaning back, surveyed 
 the irate captain as though utterly oblivious of that 
 gentleman's indignation, and then turned his attention 
 to Mrs. Huzzard, who was between two fires in her 
 regret that the captain should be ridiculed and her joy 
 in Overton's commendation of herself. The captain had 
 dismayed her considerably by a monologue on etiquette 
 while she was making the pies, and she had inwardly 
 hoped that the girl and her handsome escort would re- 
 turn before Overton, for vague womanly fears had been 
 awakened in her heart by the opinions of the captain. 
 To be sure, Dan never did look at girls much, and he 
 was as "settled down" as any old man yet. The girl 
 was pretty, and there was a bit of mystery about her. 
 Who could tell what her guardian intended her for? 
 This question had been asked by Captain Leek. Dan 
 was very close-lipped about her, and his reticence had 
 intensified the mystery regarding his ward. Mrs. Huz- 
 zard had seen wars of extermination started for a less 
 worthy reason than pretty Montana, and so she had done 
 some quiet fretting over the question until 'Tana's guard- 
 ian set her free from worries by his hearty words. 
 
 "Don't you bother your precious head, or 'Tana's, 
 with ideas of what rules people live by in a society of 
 
AT SINNA FERRY 77 
 
 the cities thousands of miles away," he advised her. "It's 
 all right to furnish guards o'r chaperons where people 
 are so depraved as to need them." 
 
 This with a turn of his eyes to the captain, who was 
 gathering himself up with a great deal of dignity. 
 
 "Good-morning, Mrs. Huzzard," he said, looking with 
 an unapproachable air across Dan's tousled head. "If 
 my stepson at times forgets what is due a gentleman in 
 your house, do not fancy that I reflect on you in the 
 slightest for it. I regret that he entertains such ideas, 
 as they are totally at variance with the rules by which 
 he was reared. Good-morning, madame." 
 
 Mrs. Huzzard clasped her hands and gazed with re- 
 proach at Overton, but at th v same time she could not 
 repress a sigh of relief. 
 
 "Well, now, he is good-natured to take it like that, 
 and speak so beautiful," she exclaimed, admiringly ; "and 
 you surely did try any man's patience, Mr. Dan. Shame 
 on you !" 
 
 But Dan only laughed and held up his finger warn- 
 ingly. 
 
 "You'll marry that man some day, if I don't put a 
 stop to this little mutual admiration society I find here 
 on my return," he said, and caught her sleeve as she tried 
 to pass him. "Now don't you do it, Mrs. Huzzard. You 
 are too nice a woman and too much of a necessity to 
 this camp for any one man to build up a claim for you. 
 Just think what will happen if you do marry him ! Why, 
 you'll be my stepmother! Doesn't the prospect frighten 
 you?" 
 
 "Oh, stop your nonsense, Mr. Dan ! I declare you do 
 try a body's patience. You are too big to send to bed 
 without your supper, or I vow I'd try it and see if it 
 6 
 
78 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 would tame you any. The captain is surely righteous 
 mad/' 
 
 "Then let him attend to his postoffice instead of inter* 
 fering with your good cooking. Jim Hill said yesterday 
 he guessed the postoffice had moved to your hotel, and 
 the boys all ask me when the wedding is to be." 
 
 She blushed with a certain satisfaction, but tossed her 
 head provokingly. 
 
 "Well, now, you can just tell them it won't be this 
 week, Mr. Dan Overton ; so you can quit your plaguing. 
 Who knows but they may be asking the same about you, 
 if you keep fetching such pretty girls into camp? Oh, 
 I guess you don't like bein' plagued any more than other 
 folks." 
 
 For Overton's smile had vanished at her words, and 
 a tiny wrinkle crept between his brows. But when she 
 commented on it, he recovered himself, and answered 
 carelessly : 
 
 "But I don't think I will keep on bringing pretty girls 
 into camp that is, I scarcely think it will grow into a 
 steady habit," he said, and met her eyes so steadily that 
 she dismissed all idea of any heart interest in the girl. 
 "But I'd rather 'Tana didn't hear any chaff of that sort. 
 You know what I mean. The boys, or any one, is like 
 enough to joke about it at first; but when they learn 
 'for keeps/ that I'm not a marrying man, they'll let up. 
 As she grows older, there'll be enough boys to bother 
 her in camp without me. All I want is to see that she 
 is looked after right ; and that's what I'm in here to talk 
 about this morning." 
 
 "Well, now, I'm right glad to help you all I can 
 which ain't much, maybe, for I never did have a sight 
 of schooling. But I can learn her the milliner trade 
 
AT SINNA FERRY 79 
 
 though it ain't much use at the Ferry yet ; but it's always 
 a living, anyway, for a woman in a town. And as to 
 cookin' and bakin' " 
 
 "Oh, yes ; they are all right ; she will learn such things 
 easily, I think ! But I wanted to ask about that cousin 
 of yours the lady who, you said, wanted to come out 
 from Ohio to teach Indians and. visit you. Is she com- 
 ing?" 
 
 "Well, she writes like it. She is a fine scholar, Lavina 
 is; but I kind o' let up on asking her to come after I 
 struck this camp, for she always held her head high, I 
 hear, and wouldn't be noways proud of me as a relation, 
 if she found me doing so much downright kitchen work. 
 I hain't seen her since she was grow'd up, you know, 
 and I don't know how she'd feel about it." 
 
 "If she's any good, she'll think all the more of you 
 for having pluck to tackle any honest work that comes," 
 said Overton, decidedly. "We all do every man in the 
 settlement. If I didn't, I wouldn't be asking you to look 
 after this little girl, who hasn't any folks father or 
 mother to look after her right. I thought if that lady 
 teacher would just settle down here, I would make it 
 worth her while to teach 'Tana." 
 
 "Well, now, that would be "wise," exclaimed Mrs. 
 Huzzard, delightedly. "An 1 I'll write her a letter this 
 very night. Or, no not to-night," she added, "for I'll 
 be too busy. To-night the dance is to be." 
 
 "What dance?" 
 
 "Well, now, I clean forgot to tell you about that. But 
 it was Mr. Lyster planned it out after you left yesterday. 
 As he's to go back East in a few days, he is to give a 
 supper and a dance to the boys, and I just thought if 
 
80 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 they were going to have it, they might as well have it 
 right and so it's to be here." 
 
 Overton twisted his hat around in silence for a few 
 moments. 
 
 "What does Tana think of it?" he asked, at last. 
 
 "She? Why, land's sakes! She's tickled a heap over 
 it. Indeed, to go back to the commencement, I guess it 
 was to please her he got it up. At least, that's the way 
 it looked to me, for she no sooner said she'd like to see. 
 a dance with this crowd at the Ferry than he said there 
 should be one, and I should get up a supper. I tell you 
 that young chap sets store by that little girl of yours, 
 though she does sass him a heap. They're a fine-looking 
 young couple, Mr. Dan." 
 
 Mr. Dan evidently agreed, for he nodded his head ab- 
 sently, but did not speak. He did not look especially 
 pleased over the announcement of the dance. 
 
 "Well, I suppose she's got to learn soon or late whom 
 to meet and whom to let alone here," he said at last, in 
 a troubled way, "and she might as well learn now as 
 later. Yet I wish Max had not been in such a hurry. 
 And he promised to take good care of her on the river, 
 did he?" he added, after another pause. "Well, he's a 
 good fellow; but I reckon she can guide him in most 
 things up here." 
 
 "No, indeed," answered Mrs. Huzzard, with prompt- 
 ness, "I heard her say myself that she had never been 
 along this part of the Kootenai River before." 
 
 "Maybe not," he agreed. "I'm not speaking of this 
 immediate locality. I mean that she has good general 
 ideas about finding ways, and trails, and means. She's 
 got ideas of outdoor life that girls don't often have, I 
 
AT SINNA FERRY 81 
 
 reckon. And if she can only look after herself as well 
 in a camp as she can on a trail, I'll be satisfied." 
 
 Mrs. Huzzard looked at him as he stared moodily out 
 of the window. 
 
 "I see how it is," she said, nodding her head in a 
 kindly way. "Since she's here, you're afraid some of 
 the folks is most too rough to teach her much good. 
 Well, well, don't you worry. We'll do the best we can, 
 and that dead partner o' yours her father, you know 
 will know you do your best; and no man can do more. 
 I had a notion about her associates when I let her go out 
 on the river this morning. 'Just go along,' thought I, 
 'if you get into the way of making company out of real 
 gentlemen, you'll not be so like to be satisfied with them 
 as ain't" 
 
 "Good enough," Dan assented, cheerily. "You have 
 been doing a little thinking on your own account, Mrs. 
 Huzzard ? That's all right, then. I'll know that you are 
 a conscientious care-taker, no matter how far out on a 
 trail I am. There's another thing I wanted to say; it's 
 this : Just you let her think that the help she gives you 
 around the house more than pays for her keeping, will 
 you?" 
 
 "Why, of course I will; and I'm willing enough to 
 take her company in change for boarding, if that's all. 
 You know I didn't want to take the money when you 
 did pay it." 
 
 "I know; that's all right. I want you to have the 
 money, only don't let her know she is any bill of expense, 
 to me. Understand ! You see, she said something about 
 it yesterday thought she was a trouble to me, or some 
 such stuff. It seemed to bother her. When she gets 
 older, we can talk to her square about such things. But 
 
82 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 now, till she gets more used to the thought of being with 
 us, we'll have to do some pious cheating in the matter. 
 I'll take the responsibilities of the lies, if we have to tell 
 any. It it seems the only way out, you see." 
 
 He spoke a little clumsily, as though uttering a speech 
 prepared beforehand and by one not used to memoriz- 
 ing, and he did not look at Mrs. Huzzard as he talked to 
 her. 
 
 But she looked at him and then let her hand fall kindly 
 on his shoulder. She had not read romances for noth- 
 ing. All at once she fancied she had found a romance 
 in the life of Dan Overton. 
 
 "Yes, I see, as plain as need be," she said. "I see 
 that you've brought care for yourself with that little 
 mischief in her Indian dress; an' you take all the care 
 on your shoulders as though it was a blessed privilege. 
 And she's never to know what she owes you. Well, 
 there's my hand. I'm your friend, Dan Overton. But 
 don't waste your days with too much care about this 
 new pet you've brought home. That's all I've got to 
 say. She'll never think more of you for it. Girls don't; 
 they are as selfish as young wolves." 
 
MRS. HUZZARD'S SUSPICIONS 83 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 MRS. HUZZARD'S SUSPICIONS. 
 
 Overton sat silent and thoughtful for a little while 
 after Mrs. Huzzard's words. Then he glanced up and 
 smiled at her. 
 
 "Fve just been getting an idea of the direction your 
 fancies are taking," he said mockingly, "and they're 
 very pretty, but I reckon you'll change them to oblige 
 me; what I'm doing for her is what I'd do for any other 
 child left alone. But as this child doesn't happen to be 
 a boy, I can't take it on the trail, and a ranger like me 
 is not fit to look after her, anyway. I think I told you 
 before, I'm not a marrying man, and she, of course, 
 would not look at me if I was; so what does it matter 
 about her thinking of me? Of course, she won't it 
 ain't my intention. Even if she leaves these diggings 
 some day and forgets all about me, just as the young 
 wolves or wildcats do well, what difference? I've 
 helped old bums all over the country, and never heard 
 or wanted to hear of them again, and I'm sure it's more 
 worth one's while to help a young girl. Now, you're a 
 nice little woman, Mrs. Huzzard, and I like you. But if 
 you and I are to keep on being good friends, don't you 
 speak like that about the child and me. It's very foolish. 
 If she should hear it, she'd leave us some fine night, and 
 we'd never learn her address." 
 
84: THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 Then he put on his hat, nodded to her, and walked out 
 of the door as though averse to any further discussion 
 of the subject. 
 
 "Bums all over the country!" repeated Mrs. Huzzard, 
 looking after him darkly. "Well, Mr. Dan Overton, it's 
 well for you that ward of yours, as you call her, wasn't 
 near enough to hear that speech. And you're not a 
 marrying man, are you? Well, well, I guess there's 
 many a man and woman, too, goes through life and 
 don't know what they might be, just because they never 
 meet with the right person who could help them to learn, 
 and you're just of that sort. Not a marrying man ! 
 Humph! When there's not a better favored one along 
 this valley that there ain't." 
 
 She fidgeted about the dinner preparations, filled with 
 a puzzled impatience as to why Dan Overton should thus 
 decidedly state that he was not one of the men to marry, 
 though all the rest of the world might fall into the 
 popular habit if they chose. 
 
 "It's the natural ambition of creation," she declared 
 in confidence to the dried peach-pie she was slipping 
 from the oven. "Of course, being as I'm a widow my- 
 self, I can't just make that statement to men folks pro- 
 miscuous like. But it's true, and every man ought to 
 know it's true, and why Dan Overton " 
 
 She paused in the midst of her soliloquy, and dropped 
 into the nearest chair, while a light of comprehension 
 illuminated her broad face. 
 
 "To think it never came in my mind before," she ejac- 
 ulated. "That's it! Poor boy! he's had a girl some- 
 where and she's died, I suppose, or married some other 
 fellow; and that's why he's a bachelor at nearly thirty* 
 I guess," she added, thoughtfully. "She must have died, 
 
MRS. HUZZARD'S SUSPICIONS 85 
 
 and that's why he never looks as gay or goes on larks 
 with the other boys. He just goes on a lone trail mostly, 
 Dan does. Even his own stepfather don't seem to have 
 much knowledge about him. Well, well! I always did 
 feel that he had some sort of trouble lookin' out of them 
 dark eyes of his, and his words to-day makes it plain to 
 me all at once. Well, well !" 
 
 The pensive expression of her face, as it rested on her 
 fat hand, was evidence that Lorena Jane Huzzard had, 
 after all, found a romance in real life suited to her 
 fancy, and the unconscious hero was Dan Overton. Poor 
 Dan! 
 
 The grieving hero to whom her thoughts went out 
 was at that moment walking in a most prosaic, lazy 
 fashion down the main thoroughfare of the settlement. 
 The road led down to the Ferry from seemingly no- 
 where in particular, for from the Ferry on both sides 
 of the river the road dwindled into mere trails that slipped 
 away into the wildernesses trails traveled by few of 
 the white race until a few short years ago, and then only 
 by the most daring of hunters, or the most persevering 
 of the gold-seekers. 
 
 In the paths where gold is found the dwellings of man 
 soon follow, and the quickly erected shanties and more 
 pretentious buildings of Sinna Ferry had grown there 
 as evidence that the precious metals in that region were 
 no longer visionary things of the enthusiasts, but veri- 
 table facts. The men who came to it along the water, 
 or over the inland trails, were all in some way connected 
 with the opening up of the new mining fields. 
 
 Overton himself had drifted up there as an independ- 
 ent prospector, two years before. Then, when works 
 were got under way all along that river and lake region^ 
 
86 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 when a reliable man was needed by the transfer company 
 to get specie to their men for pay-days, it was Overton 
 to whom was given the responsibility. 
 
 Various responsible duties he had little by little shoul- 
 dered, until, as Lyster said, he seemed a necessity to a 
 large area, yet he had not quite abandoned the dreams 
 with which he had entered those cool Northern lands. 
 Some day, when the country was more settled and trans- 
 portation easier, it was his intention to slip again up into 
 the mountains, along some little streams he knew, and 
 work out there in quietness his theories as to where the 
 gold was to be found. 
 
 Meantime, he was contented enough with his lot. No 
 vaulting ambition touched him. He was merely a ranger 
 of the Kootenai country, and was as welcome in the 
 scattered lodges of the Indians as he was in the camps 
 of the miners. He even wore clothes of Indian make, 
 perhaps for the novelty of them, or perhaps because the 
 buckskin was better suited than cloth to the wild trails 
 over which he rode. And if, at times, he drifted into 
 talk of existence beyond the frontier, and gave one an 
 idea that he had drunk of worldly life deep enough to 
 be tired of it, those times were rare ; even Lyster had but 
 once known him to make reference to it that one even- 
 ing after their ride along the falls of the Kootenai. 
 
 But however tired he might at some time have grown 
 of the life of cities, he was not at all too blast? to accom- 
 modate himself to Sinna Ferry. If poor Mrs. Huzzard 
 had seen the very hearty drink of whisky with which he 
 refreshed himself after his talk with her, she would not 
 have been so apt to think of him with such pensive sym- 
 pathy. 
 
MRS. HUZZARD'S SUSPICIONS 87 
 
 The largest and most popular saloon was next door to 
 the postoffice, the care of which Dan had secured for his 
 stepfather, as the duties of it were just about as arduous 
 as any that gentleman would deign to accept. The mail 
 came every two weeks, and its magnitude was of the 
 fourth-class order. No one else wanted it, for a man 
 would have to possess some other means of livelihood 
 before he could undertake it, but the captain accepted it 
 with the attitude of a veteran who was a martyr to fiis 
 country. As to the other means of livelihood, that did 
 not cause him much troubled thought, since he had 
 chanced to fall in Dan's way just as Dan was starting 
 up to the Kootenai country, and Dan had been the "other 
 means" ever since. 
 
 The captain watched Overton gulp down the "fire- 
 water," while he himself sipped his with the appreciation 
 of a gentleman of leisure. 
 
 "You didn't use to drink so early in the day," the cap- 
 tain remarked, with a certain watchful malice in his 
 face. "Are your cares as a guardian wearing on your, 
 nerves, and bringing a need of stimulants?" 
 
 Overton wheeled about as though to fling the whisky- 
 glass across at the speaker; but the gallant captain, per- 
 ceiving that he had overreached his stepson's patience, 
 promptly dodged around the end of the bar, squatting 
 close to the floor. Overton, leaning over to look at him, 
 only laughed contemptuously, and set the glass down 
 again. 
 
 "You're not worth the price of the glass," he decided, 
 amused in spite of himself at the fear in the pale -blue 
 eyes. Even the flowing side- whiskers betrayed a sort 
 of alarm in their bristling alertness. "And if it wasn't 
 
88 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 that one good woman fancied you were true metal in- 
 stead of slag, I'd " 
 
 He did not complete the sentence, leaving the captain 
 in doubt as to his half-expressed threat. 
 
 "Get up there !" Dan suddenly exclaimed. "Now, you 
 think you will annoy me about that guardianship until 
 I'll give it up, don't you?" he said, more quietly, as the 
 captain once more stood erect, but in a wavering, un- 
 certain way. "Well, you're mightily mistaken, and you, 
 might as well end your childish interference right here. 
 The girl is as much entitled to my consideration as you 
 are more ! So if any one is dropped out of the family 
 circle, it will not be her. Do you understand? And if I 
 hear another word of your insinuations about her amuse- 
 ments, I'll break your neck ! Two, Jim." 
 
 This last was to the barkeeper, and had reference to 
 a half-dollar he tossed on the counter as payment for his 
 own drink and that of the captain ; and again he stalked 
 into the street with his temper even more rumpled than 
 when he left Mrs. Huzzard's. 
 
 Assuredly it was not a good morning for Mr. Over- 
 ton's peace of mind. 
 
 Down along the river he came in sight of the cause 
 of his discontent, the most innocent-looking cause in 
 the world. She was teaching Lyster to paddle the canoe 
 with but one paddle, as the Indians do, and was laugh- 
 ing derisively at his ineffectual attempts to navigate in 
 a straight line. 
 
 "You promised Mrs. Huzzard you'd take care 
 of me," she said, slowly and emphatically, "and a 
 pretty way you're doing it. Suppose I depended on you 
 getting me in to shore for my dinner, how many hours 
 do you think I'd have to go without eating? Just about 
 
MRS. HUZZARD'S SUSPICIONS 89 
 
 sixteen. Give me that paddle, and don't upset the canoe 
 when you move." 
 
 These commands Mr. Lyster obeyed with alacrity. 
 
 "What a clever little girl you are !" he said, admiringly, 
 as she sent the canoe skimming straight as a swallow 
 for the shore. "Now, Overton would appreciate your 
 skill at this sort of work" and then he laughed a little 
 '"much more than he would your modeling in clay." 
 
 A dark flush crept over her face, and her lips straight- 
 ened. 
 
 "Why shouldn't he look down on that sort of potter- 
 ing around ?" she demanded. "He isn't the sort of man 
 who has time to waste on trifles." 
 
 "Why that emphasis on the he?" asked her tormentor. 
 "Do you mean to insinuate that I do waste time on trifles ? 
 Well, well ! is that the way I get snubbed, because I grow 
 enthusiastic over your artistic modeling and your most 
 charming voice, Miss 'Tana?" 
 
 She flashed one sulky, suspicious look at him, and 
 paddled on in silence. 
 
 "What a stormy shadow lurks somewhere back of 
 your eyes," he continued, lazily. "One moment you are 
 all sugar and cream to a fellow, and the next you are 
 an incipient tornado. I think you might distribute your 
 frowns a little among the people you know, and not give 
 them all to me. Now, there's Overton " 
 
 "Don't you talk about him," she commanded, sharply. 
 "You do a lot of making fun about folks, but don't you 
 go on making fun of him, if that's what you're trying to 
 do. If it's me pooh!" and she looked at him, saucily. 
 "I don't care much what you think about me ; but Dan " 
 
 "Oh ! Dan, then, happens to-day to be one of the saints 
 in your calendar, and plain mortals like myself must 
 
90 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 not take his name in vain is that it? What a change 
 from this time yesterday! for I don't think you sent 
 him to the hills in a very angelic mood. And you ! well, 
 I found you with a clay Indian crumbled to pieces in your 
 destroying hands ; so I don't imagine Dan's talk to you 
 left a very peaceful impression." 
 
 He laughed at her fceasingly, expecting to see her show 
 temper again, but she did not. She only bent her head 
 a little lower, and when she lifted it, she looked at him 
 with a certain daring. 
 
 "He was right, and I was silly, I guess. He was good 
 so good, and I'm mostly bad. I was bad to him, any- 
 way, but I ain't too much of a baby to say so. And if 
 he's mad at me when he comes back, I'll just pack my 
 traps and take another trail." 
 
 "Back to Akkomi ?" he asked, gaily. "Now, you know 
 we would not hear to that." 
 
 "It ain't your affair, only Dan's." 
 
 "Oh, excuse me for living on the same earth with you 
 and Dan ! It is not my fault, you know. I suppose now, 
 if you did desert us, it would be to act as a sort of guard- 
 ian angel to the tribes along the river, turn into a whole 
 life-saving service yourself, and pick up the superfluous 
 reds who tumble into the rivers. I wondered for a whole 
 day why you made so strong a swim for so unimportant 
 an article." 
 
 "His mother thought he was important," she answered. 
 "But I didn't know he had a mother just then; all I 
 thought as I started for him was that he was so plucky. 
 He tried his little best to save himself, and he never said 
 one word; that was what I liked about him. It would 
 nave been a pky to let that sort of a boy be lost." 
 
MRS. HUZZARD'S SUSPICIONS 91 
 
 "You think a heap of that of personal bravery don't 
 you ? I notice you gauge every one by that." 
 
 "Maybe I do. I know I hate a coward," she said, in- 
 differently. 
 
 Then, as the canoe ran in to the shore, she for the first 
 time saw Overton, who was standing there waiting for 
 them. She looked at him with startled alertness as his 
 eyes met hers. He looked like a statue a frontier sen- 
 tinel standing tall and muscular with folded arms 
 and gazing with curious intentness from one to the other 
 of the canoeists. 
 
 In the bottom of the boat a string of fish lay, fine 
 speckled fellows, to delight the palate of an epicure. She 
 stooped and picking up the fish, walked across the sands 
 to him. 
 
 "Look, Dan!" she said, with unwonted humility. 
 "They're the best I could find, and and I'm sorry enough 
 for being ugly yesterday. I'll try not to be any more. 
 I'll do anything you want yes, I will !" she added, snap- 
 pishly, as he smiled dubiously, she thought unbelievingly. 
 "I'd dress like a boy, and go on the trails with you, pad- 
 dle your canoe, or feed your horse I would, if you like." 
 
 Lyster, who was following, heard her words, and 
 glanced at Overton with curious meaning. Overton met 
 the look with something like a threat in his own eyes a 
 sort of "laugh if you dare !" 
 
 "But I don't like," Dan said, briefly, to poor Tana, who. 
 had made such a great effort to atone for ugly words 
 spoken to him the day before. 
 
 She said no more; and Lyster, walking beside her, 
 pulled one of her unruly curls teasingly, to make her look 
 at him. 
 
92 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "Didn't I tell you it was better to give your smiles to me 
 instead of to Overton?" he asked, in a bantering way, as 
 he took the string of fish. "I care a great deal more about 
 your good opinion than he does." 
 
 "Oh you " she began, and shrugged her shoulders 
 for a silent finish to her thought, as though words were 
 useless. 
 
 "Oh, me! Of course, me. Now, if you had offered to 
 paddle a canoe for me, I'd " 
 
 "You'd loll in the bottom of the boat and let me," she 
 flashed out. "Of course you would; you're made just 
 that way." 
 
 "Sh h, 'Tana," said Overton, while to himself he 
 smiled in an indulgent way, and thought: "That is like 
 youth ; they only quarrel when there is a listener." Then 
 turning to the girl, he said aloud : 
 
 "You know, Tana, I want you to learn other things 
 besides paddling a canoe. Such things are all right for a 
 boy ; but " 
 
 "I know," she agreed; but there was a resentful tone 
 in her voice. "And I guess I'll never trouble you to do 
 squaw's work for you again." 
 
 She looked squaw-like, but for her brown, curly hair, 
 for she still wore the dress Overton had presented to her 
 at the Kootenai village ; and very becoming it was with its 
 fancy fringes and dots of yellow, green, and black beads. 
 Only the hat was a civilized affair the work of Mrs. 
 Huzzard, and was a wide, pretty "flat" of brown straw, 
 while from its crown some bunches of yellow rosebuds 
 nodded the very last "artificial" blossoms left of Sin- 
 na Ferry's first millinery store. The young face looked 
 very piquant above the beaded collar; not so pinched or 
 worn a face as when the men had first seen her. The one 
 
MRS. HUZZARD'S SUSPICIONS 1)3 
 
 week of sheltered content had given her cheeks a fullness 
 and color remarkable. She was prettier than either man 
 had imagined she would be. But it was not a joyous, 
 girlish face even yet. There was too much of something 
 like suspicion in it, a certain watchful attention given to 
 the people with whom she came in contact ; and this did 
 not seem to abate in the least. Overton had noticed it, and 
 decided that first night that she must have been treated 
 badly by people to have distrust come so readily to her. 
 He noticed, also, that any honest show of kindness soon 
 won her over ; and that to Lyster, with his graceful little 
 attentions and his amused interest, she turned from the 
 first hour of their acquaintance as to some chum who was 
 in the very inner circle of those to whom her favor was 
 extended. Overton, hearing their wordy wars and not- 
 ing their many remarks of friendship, felt old, as though 
 their light enjoyment of little things made him realize the 
 weight of his own years, for he could no longer laugh with 
 them. 
 
 Looking down now at the clouded young face under 
 the hat, he felt remorsefully like a "kill-joy;" for she had 
 been cheery enough until she caught sight of him. 
 
 "And you will never do squaw work for me again, little 
 squaw?" Dan questioned, banteringly. "Not even if I 
 asked you?" 
 
 "You never will ask me," she answered, promptly. 
 
 "Well, then, not even if I should get sick and need a 
 nurse?" 
 
 "You!" and she surveyed him from head to foot with 
 pronounced unbelief. "You'll never be sick. You're 
 strong as a mountain lion, or an old king buffalo." 
 
 "Maybe," he agreed, and smiled slightly at the dubious 
 
 7 
 
94: THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 compliment. "But you know even the old king buffaloes 
 die sometime." 
 
 "Die? Oh, yes, in a fight, or something of that sort; 
 but they don't need much medicine !" 
 
 "And even if you did," said Lyster> addressing Overton, 
 "I'm going to give you fair warning you can't depend on 
 'Tana, unless you mend your ways. She threatened to- 
 day to leave us, if you allow the shadow of your anger 
 to fall on her again. So take heed, or she will swim back 
 to Akkomi." 
 
 Overton looked at her sharply, and saw that back of 
 Lyster's badinage there was something of truth. 
 
 "You did?" he asked, reproachfully. "I did not know 
 I had been so bad a friend to you as that." 
 
 But no answer was made to him. She was ashamed, 
 and she looked it. She was also angry at Lyster, and he 
 was made aware of it by a withering glance. 
 
 "Now I'm in her bad books," he complained; "but it 
 was only my fear of losing her that urged me to give you 
 warning. I hope she does not take revenge by refusing 
 me all the dances I am looking forward to to-night. I'd 
 like to get you, as her guardian, on my side, Overton." 
 
 The girl looked up, expectantly, and rested her slim 
 fingers on the arms of the two men. 
 
 "I could not be of much use, unless I had an invitation 
 myself to the dance," Dan remarked, dryly; "mine has 
 evidently been delayed in the mail." 
 
 "You don't like it?" said the girl, detecting the fact in 
 his slight change of tone. "You don't want me to go to 
 dances?" 
 
 "What an idea !" exclaimed Lyster. "Of course, he is 
 not going to spoil our good time by objecting are you, 
 Dan ? I never thought of that. You see, you were away ; 
 
MRS. HUZZARD'S SUSPICIONS 95 
 
 but, of course, I fancied you would like it, too. I'll write 
 you out a flourishing request for your presence, if that's 
 all." 
 
 "It isn't necessary; I'll be there, I reckon. But why 
 should you think I mean to keep you from jollifications?'* 
 he asked, looking kindly at 'Tana. "Don't get the idea 
 in your head that I'm a sort of 'Bad Man from Roaring 
 River,' who eats a man or so for breakfast every day, and 
 all the little girls he comes across. No, indeed! I'll 
 whistle for you to dance any time ; so get on your war- 
 paint and feathers when it pleases you." 
 
 The prospect seemed to please her, for she walked closer 
 to him and looked up at him with more content. 
 
 "Anyway, you ain't like Captain Leek," she decided. 
 "He's the worst old baby! Why, he just said all sorts 
 of things about dances. Guess he must be a heavy swell 
 where he comes from, and where all the fandangoes are 
 got up in gilt-edged style. I'd like to spoil the gilt for 
 him a little. I will, too, if he preaches any more of his 
 la-de-da society rules to me. I'll show him I'm a different 
 boy from Mrs. Huzzard." 
 
 "Now, what would you do?" asked Lyster. "He 
 wouldn't trust himself in a boat with you, so you can't 
 drown him." 
 
 "Don't want to. Huh ! I wouldn't want to be lynched 
 for him. All I'd like to hit hard would be his good 
 opinion of himself. I could, too, if Dan wouldn't object/* 
 
 "If you can, you're a wonder," remarked Dan. "And 
 I'll give you license to do what I confess I can't. But 
 I think you might take us into your confidence." 
 
 This she would not do, and escaped all their questions 
 by taking refuge in Mrs. Huzzard's best room, and much 
 of her afternoon was spent there under that lady's sur- 
 
96 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 veillance, fashioning a party gown with which to astonish 
 the natives. For Mrs. Huzzard would not consent to her 
 appearing in the savageness of an Indian dress, when the 
 occasion was one of importance namely, the first dance 
 in the settlement held in the house of a respectable woman. 
 
 And as 'Tana stitched, and gathered, and fashioned 
 the dress, according to Mrs. Huzzard's orders, she fash- 
 ioned at the same time a little plan of her own in which 
 the personality of Captain Leek was to figure. 
 
 If Mrs. Huzzard fancied that her silent smiles were in 
 anticipation of the dancing festivities, she was much mis- 
 taken. 
 
A GAME OF POKER 9? 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A GAME OF POKER. 
 
 Mr. Max Lyster, in his hasty plans for an innocent 
 village dance, had neglected to make allowance for a cer- 
 tain portion of the inhabitants whose innocence was not 
 of the quality that allowed them to miss anything, no mat- 
 ter who was host. They would shoot the glass out of 
 every window in a house, if the owner of the house should 
 be in their bad books for any trifling slight, and would 
 proceed to "clean out" any establishment where their own 
 peculiar set was ignored. 
 
 There were, perhaps, seven or eight women in the place, 
 who were shown all respect by men in general. They 
 were the wives and daughters of the city fathers the first 
 of the "family folks" to give the stamp of permanency 
 to the little camp by the river. These ladies and their 
 husbands, together with the better class of the "boys," 
 were the people whom Mr. Lyster expected to meet and 
 to partake of his hospitality in the cheery abode of Mrs. 
 Huzzard. 
 
 But Overton knew there were one or two other people 
 to consider, and felt impatient with Lyster for his im- 
 pulsive arrangements. Of course, 'Tana could not know 
 and Mrs. Huzzard did not, but Lyster had at least been 
 very thoughtless. 
 
 The fact was that the well-ordered establishment of 
 Mrs. Huzzard was a grievance and a thorn in the side of 
 
98 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 certain womankind, who dwelt along the main street and 
 kept open drinking saloons seven days in the week. They 
 would have bought ribbons and feathers from her, and as 
 a milliner thought no more about her, or even if she had 
 opened a hotel, with a bar attached, they would have been 
 willing to greet her as a fellow worker, and all would have 
 had even chances. But her effrontery in opening an eat- 
 ing house, where only water pure or adulterated with tea 
 or coffee was drunk Well, her immaculate preten- 
 sions, to use the vernacular of one of the disgusted, "made 
 them sick." 
 
 It may have been their dislike was made more pro- 
 nounced because of the fact that the more sober-minded 
 men turned gladly to the irreproachable abode of Mrs. 
 Huzzard, and the "bosses" of several "gangs" of work- 
 men had arranged with her for their meals. Besides, 
 the river men directed any strangers to her house; 
 whereas, before, the saloons had been the first point of 
 view from which travelers or miners had seen Sinna 
 Ferry. All these grievances had accumulated through the 
 weeks, until the climax was capped when the report went 
 abroad that a dance was to take place at the sickeningly 
 correct restaurant, and that only the elite of the settle- 
 ment were expected to attend. 
 
 Thereupon some oaths had been exchanged in a desul- 
 tory fashion over the bars at Mustang Kate's and Dutch 
 Lena's ; and derisive comments made as to Mrs. Huzzard 
 and her late charge, the girl in the Indian dress. Some 
 of the boys, who owned musical instruments a banjo and 
 a mouth organ were openly approached by bribery to 
 keep away from the all too perfect gathering, so that there 
 might be a dearth of music. But the boys with the musi- 
 cal instruments evaded the knbes, and even hinted aloud 
 
A GAME OF POKER 99 
 
 their desire to dance once anyway with the new girl of 
 the curly hair and the Indian dress. 
 
 This decision increased somewhat the muttering of the 
 storm brewing; and when Dutch Lena's own man indis- 
 creetly observed that he would have to drop in line, too, 
 if all the good boys were going, then indeed did the 
 cyclone of woman's wrath break over that particular 
 branch of Hades. Lena's man was scratched a little with 
 a knife before quiet was restored, and there had been 
 some articles of furniture flung around promiscuously; 
 also some violent language. 
 
 Overton divined somewhat of all this, knowing as he 
 did the material of the neighborhood, though no actual 
 history of events came to his ears. And 'Tana, presenting 
 herself to his notice in all the glory of her party dress, 
 felt her enthusiasm cool as he looked at her moodily. He 
 would have liked to shut her away from all the vulgar 
 gaze and comment he knew her charming face would win 
 for her. His responsibilities as a guardian forced on him 
 so many new phases of thought. He had never before 
 given the social side of Sinna Ferry much consideration ; 
 but he thought fast and angrily as he looked down on the 
 slim, girlish, white-draped figure and the lovely appealing 
 face turned upward to him. 
 
 "You don't like it you don't think it is pretty?" she 
 asked, and her mouth was a little tremulous. "I tried 
 so hard. I sewed part of it myself, and Mrs. Huzzard 
 said" 
 
 Lyster arose from a seat by the window. He had en- 
 tered the room but a moment before, and now lounged 
 toward her with critical eyes. 
 
 "Mrs. Huzzard said you were enchanting in your new 
 gown is not that it?" he asked, and then frowned at 
 
100 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 Overton in a serio-comic way. "And lives there a man 
 with soul so dead that he cannot perceive the manifold 
 beauties arranged for his inspection? Well, you know I 
 told you I appreciate you much more than he will ever 
 do; so " 
 
 "What nonsense you are talking!" said Overton, irri- 
 tably. "Of course, the dress is all right. I don't know 
 much about such things, though ; so my opinion is not 
 worth much. But I don't think little girls should be told 
 so much of their charms, Lyster. They are too likely to 
 be made think that prettiness is the only thing worth liv- 
 ing for." 
 
 He smiled at 'Tana to soften the severity of his speech ; 
 but she was not looking at him just then, and so missed 
 the softening accompaniment. She felt it was herself 
 who was taken to task instead of Lyster, and stood with 
 drooped, darkening face until the door closed behind 
 Overton. 
 
 "That is your fault," she burst out. "He he might 
 have thought it was nice, if you hadn't been here with 
 your fool speeches. You just go around laughing at 
 everything, Mr. Max Lyster, and you're just as empty 
 as that china cat on the mantel, and it's hollow. I'd like 
 to hit you sometimes when you say your nice, tantalizing 
 words that's what I'd like to do; and maybe some day 
 I will." 
 
 "I shouldn't be surprised if you did," he agreed, and 
 stepped back out of range of her clenched brown hands. 
 "Whew! what a trial you'd be to a guardian who had 
 nerves. You are spoiling your pretty face with that sa- 
 tanic expression. Now, why should you make war on 
 me? I'm sure I am one of your mo devoted servants- ** 
 
A GAME OF POKER 101 
 
 "You are your own devoted servant," she retorted, 
 "and you'll never be any other person's." 
 
 "Well, now, I'm not so sure of that," he said, and 
 looked at her smilingly. All her anger did not keep him 
 from seeing what a wondrous difference all that white, 
 billowy lawn made in the girl whom he had taken for a 
 squaw that first day when he saw her swimming the 
 Kootenai 
 
 She looked taller, slighter, with such lovable curves in 
 the girlish form, and the creamy neck and arms gleam- 
 ing through the thin material. No ornaments or ribbons 
 broke the whiteness of her garb nothing but the Indian 
 belt of beads that Overton had given her, and in it were 
 reddish tints and golden brown the color of her hair. 
 
 To be sure, the cheeks were a little tanned by the 
 weather, and the little hand was browner than need be 
 for beauty ; but, for all that, he realized, as Overton had 
 seemingly not done, that the girl, when dressed as dainty 
 girlhood should be, was very pretty, indeed. 
 
 "I am willing to sign myself your bond slave from 
 this hour, if that will lessen your anger against me," he 
 protested. "Just think, I leave Sinna Ferry to-morrow. 
 How shall I do penance until then ?" 
 
 "'It may be for years, and it may be forever, 
 Then why art thou silent, O voice of my heart ?' " 
 
 She pouted and frowned a little at his warbling, though 
 a smile eventually touched her lips, and speculation shone 
 in her eyes. 
 
 "I will make you do penance," she declared, "and right 
 now, too. I haven't any money, but I'll put up my moc- 
 casins against five dollars in a game of poker." 
 
 " You play poker?" 
 
102 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "I'll try/' she said briefly, and her eyes sparkled; "I'll 
 play you and ask no favors." 
 
 "Your moccasins are not worth five." 
 
 "Maybe not. Call it two-fifty then and promise me two 
 hands at that." 
 
 "How sure you are to win !" he laughed, well pleased 
 that she was diverted from her quick displeasure. "We'll 
 call it five against the moccasins. Here are the cards. 
 And what am I to do with those little moccasins, even if 
 I do win them?" 
 
 "Oh, I'll take care of the moccasins !" she said, easily. 
 "I guess they'll not trouble you much, Mr. Lyster. Cut 
 for deal?" 
 
 He nodded, and they commenced their game there alone 
 in Mrs. Huzzard's most respectable caf$. Mrs. Huzzard 
 herself did not approve of card playing. No one but Cap- 
 tain Leek had, as yet, been allowed that privilege. His 
 playing she had really begun to look upon as almost 
 moral in its effects, since he pursued it as the most inno- 
 cent of pastimes, never betting more than a few dimes, 
 and since it secluded him effectually from the roaring lion 
 of iniquity to which so many men fell victims in the lively 
 little settlement. But 'Tana, knowing that card playing 
 by a girl would not be a thing within Mrs. Huzzard's un- 
 derstanding, glanced warily at the door leading to the sec- 
 ond floor of the establishment and comforted herself that 
 the mistress of the domain was yet employed by her toilet 
 for the evening. 
 
 'Tana dealt, and did it so deftly that Lyster looked 
 at her in surprise, even irritation. What business had 
 she touching the bits of pasteboard like that like some 
 old gambler. Such a slight slip of a thing, with all the 
 beauty of early youth in her face, and all the guilelessness 
 
A GAME OF POKER 103 
 
 of a vestal in the pure white of her garb. He fancied he 
 would have felt different if he had seen her playing cards 
 in that Indian dress ; it would not have brought such a 
 discord with it. And it was not merely that she played, 
 but it was the way she played that brought vexation to 
 him that careless, assured handling of the cards. It 
 seemed almost professional, it seemed 
 
 "I'll just take that little five," remarked his opponent 
 easily, and spread out the cards before him. "I know 
 what you've got, and it won't touch this flush, and if 
 you play again I'd advise you to gather your wits and not 
 play so wild that is, if you want to win." 
 
 He stared at her in astonishment. It was quite true 
 while his thoughts had been with her personality and her 
 incongruous occupation, her thoughts had been centered 
 very decidedly on the points of the game. She, at least, 
 had not played "wild." A doubt even came into his mind, 
 as to whether she played honestly. 
 
 "I don't think I cared about winning," he answered, 
 "I'd rather have given you the stakes than to' have had 
 you play for them that way yes, 'Tana, double the 
 stakes." 
 
 "Oh, would you?" she asked, with saucy indifference. 
 "Well, I ain't asking favors. I guess I can win all I 
 want." 
 
 "No doubt you can," he assented, gravely. "But as 
 young ladies do not generally depend on their skill with, 
 cards to earn their pocket money, I'm afraid Overton 
 would have a lecture ready for you, if he learned of your 
 skill." 
 
 ''Let him," she said, recklessly. "I've tried to be good, 
 and tried to be nice, and and even pretty," she added, 
 touching the dainty sleeve and skirt of her dress, "but 
 
104: THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 what use is it? He just stands off and stares at me, and 
 even speaks sharp as if he's sorry he ever brought me 
 down here. I didn't think he'd be like that. He was 
 nicer in Akkomi's village; and now " 
 
 She hesitated, and, seeing that Lyster's eyes were 
 watching her attentively, she laughed in a careless way, 
 and curled the five-dollar bill around her finger. 
 
 "So I might as well be bad, don't you see? and I'm 
 going to be, too. I want this five dollars to gamble with, 
 and ior nothing else in the world. I'm going to get square 
 with some one." 
 
 "Which means you are going to worry some one else, 
 just because Overton has annoyed you," decided Lyster. 
 "That is a woman's idea of retaliation, I believe. Am I 
 the selected victim?" 
 
 "Of course you're not, or I wouldn't have told you. All 
 I wanted of you was to give me a start." 
 
 "Exactly ; your frankness is not very flattering ; but, in 
 spite of it, I'd like to give you a start in a different way 
 toward a good school, for instance. How would you like 
 that?" 
 
 She looked at him for a moment suspiciously, she was 
 so used to raillery from him ; then she answered briefly : 
 
 "But you are not my guardian, Mr. Max Lyster." 
 
 "Then you prefer card playing?" 
 
 "No, I don't. I'd like it, but my income can't cover 
 such luxuries, and I have booked myself to play for a 
 time this evening, if I can get the man I want to play 
 with." 
 
 "But that is what you must not do," he said, hastily. 
 "With Overton or myself, of course, a game would not 
 do you any special harm ; but you simply must not indulge 
 
A GAME OF POKER 105 
 
 in such pastime with this promiscuous gathering of people 
 of men." 
 
 "But it isn't men it's only one man I want to play 
 do you see ?" 
 
 "I might if I knew who it was ; but you don't know any 
 men here but Dan and me." 
 
 "Yes, I do, too. I know Captain Alphonso Leek." 
 
 "Perhaps, but " Lyster smiled, and shook his head 
 dubiously. 
 
 "But he won't play with me, because he don't like me ; 
 that's what you would say, if you were not too polite* 
 isn't it? He doesn't approve of me, and can't understand 
 why I'm on the face of the earth, and especially why Dan 
 should take any responsibility but Captain Leek on his 
 hands. Huh ! Can't I see ? Of course I do. I heard him 
 call me 'that' this morning. And so, I want to play a 
 game of poker with him." 
 
 She looked impishly at him from under her brows, and 
 twirled the money. 
 
 "Won't you be a messenger of peace and fix the game 
 for me ?" she asked, insinuatingly. "You know you prom- 
 ised to do penance." 
 
 "Then I forswear all rash promises for the future," he 
 declared. 
 
 "But you did promise." 
 
 "Well, then, I'll keep my word, since you are such a lit- 
 tle Shylock. And if it is only the captain " 
 
 She laughed after he had gone out, and sat there 
 shuffling the cards and building them into various forms. 
 She was 'thus employed when Overton again passed the 
 window and entered the room ere she could conceal them. 
 He observed her attempt to do so and smiled indulgently. 
 
106 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "Playing with the cards, are you ?" he asked, in a care- 
 less way. "They are expensive toys sometimes. But 
 I'll teach you 'seven-up* some day ; it's an easy game." 
 
 "Is it ?" she said ; but did not look up at him. His in- 
 difference to the pretty dress had not yet ceased to annoy 
 her. 
 
 "Yes. And see here, 'Tana! I forgot to give you a 
 present I brought you a little while ago. It's a ring a 
 fellow from the upper lake region worried me into buy- 
 ing, as he was dead broke. He bought it from an Indian 
 up near Karlo. Queer for an Indian to have, isn't it?" 
 
 "Near Karlo?" she said, and reached out her hand 
 for it. 
 
 There was a strange look on her face, a strange chok- 
 ing sound in her throat. He noticed it, and his voice was 
 very kindly as he spoke again. 
 
 "You don't like even to hear of that region, do you? 
 You must have been very miserable somewhere up there. 
 But never mind, little girl; we'll try to forget all that. 
 And if the ring fits you, wear it, no matter what country 
 it conies from." 
 
 She tried to thank him, but the words would not come 
 easily, and her outstretched hand in which the ring lay 
 was tremulous. 
 
 "Oh, that's all right," he said hastily, afraid, no doubt, 
 she was going to cry, as he had seen her do before at 
 kind words. "Never mind about the thanks. If you care 
 to wear it, that's all that's necessary ; though a snake ring 
 is not the prettiest of ornaments for a girl. It fits, 
 doesn't it?" 
 
 "Yes, it fits," she returned, and slipped it on her finger. 
 "It is very nice," but she shivered as with cold, and her 
 hand shook. 
 
A GAME OF POKER 107 
 
 It was curious enough to attract notice anywhere, a 
 silver and a gold snake twined together with their heads 
 meeting, and in the flattened gold head, eyes of garnet 
 gleamed, while the silver head had eyes of emerald. Not 
 a girlish looking ornament, surely. 
 
 "I'll wear it," she said, and dropped the hand to her 
 side. "But don't tell the rest where it came from. I 
 may want to tease them." 
 
108 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE DANCE. 
 
 "Ain't it lovely, Ora ?" and 'Tana danced past Ora Har- 
 rison, the doctor's pretty daughter, as if her feet had 
 wings to them. And as Ora's bright face smiled an 
 answer, it was clear that the only two young girls in the 
 settlement were enjoying Lyster's party to the full. 
 
 For it was a pronounced success. Every "boy" invited 
 was there in as much of festive outfit as circumstances 
 would allow. All the "family" people were there. And 
 the presence of Doctor Harrison the only "professional" 
 man in the town and his wife and daughter gave a 
 stamp of select society to the gathering in Mrs. Huzzard's 
 rooms. 
 
 Mrs. Huzzard beamed with pleasure at the great suc- 
 cess of it all. She would have liked to dance, too, and 
 refused most unwillingly when Lyster tried to persuade 
 her. But a supercilious glance from the captain made her 
 refusal decided. The doubt as to whether ladies in 
 "sussiety" ever did dance after forty years, and one hun- 
 dred and sixty-three pounds weight, deterred her. Now, 
 if the captain had asked her to dance, she would have been 
 more assured. 
 
 But the captain did not; and, after a while, he was 
 not to be seen. He had vanished into the little back sit- 
 ting room, and she was confident he was engaged in his 
 
THE DANCE 109 
 
 innocent pastime of a friendly game of cards with the 
 doctor. 
 
 "Go and dance with 'Tana, or that nice little girl of *he 
 doctor's," she said to Lyster, when he was trying to in- 
 veigle her into a quadrille "that's the sort of partner for 
 you." 
 
 "But 'Tana has disappeared mysteriously ; and as Miss 
 Ora is 'bespoke,' I can't dance with her unless I want a 
 duel with her partner." 
 
 " 'Tana disappeared ! Well, now, I haven't seen her 
 for two dances," said Mrs. Huzzard, looking around 
 searchingly, "though I never missed her till this minute." 
 
 "Beg pardon, ma'am," said a voice at her elbow; "but 
 is it the the young lady with the white dress you are 
 looking for?" 
 
 "Yes, it is," answered Mrs. Huzzard, and turned 
 around to face the speaker, who was an apologetic-look- 
 ing stranger with drab-colored chin whiskers, and a 
 checkered shirt, and a slight impediment in his speech. 
 
 "Well, ma'am, I saw her go into that room there quite 
 a spell ago," and he nodded toward the back sitting room. 
 "She hasn't passed out again, as I've seen." 
 
 Then, as Mrs. Huzzard smiled on him in a friendly 
 way, he ventured further: 
 
 "She's a very pretty girl, as any one can see. Might I 
 ask her name?" 
 
 "Oh, yes ! Her name is Rivers Miss 'Tana Rivers," 
 said Mrs. Huzzard. "You must be a stranger in the set- 
 tlement ?" 
 
 "Yes, ma'am, I am. My name is Harris Jim Harris. 
 I come down from the diggings with Mr. Overton this 
 morning. He allowed it would be all right for me to 
 step inside, if I wanted to see the dancing." 
 8 
 
110 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "To be sure it is/' agreed Mrs. Huzzard, heartily. "His 
 friends are our friends, and civil folks are always right 
 welcome." 
 
 "Thank, you, ma'arn; you're kind, I'm sure. But we 
 ain't just friends, especial. Only I had business in his 
 line, so we picked up acquaintance and come into camp 
 together; and when I saw the pretty girl in white, I did 
 think I'd like to come in a spell. She looks so uncommon 
 like a boy I knew up in the 'big bend' country. Looks 
 enough like him to be a twin ; but he wasn't called Rivers. 
 Has has this young lady any brothers or cousins up 
 there?" 
 
 "Well, now, as for cousins, they are far out, and we 
 hain't ever talked about them; but as for brothers or 
 sisters, father or mother, that she hasn't got, for she told 
 me so. Her pa and Mr. Dan Overton they was partners 
 once ; and when the pa died he just left his child to the 
 partner's care ; and he couldn't have left her to a squarer 
 man." 
 
 "That's what report says of him/' conceded the 
 stranger, watching her with guarded attention. "Then 
 Mr. Overton's partner hasn't been dead long?" 
 
 "Oh, no not very long ; not long enough for the child 
 to get used to talking of it to strangers, I guess ; so we 
 don't ask her many questions about it. But it troubles 
 her yet, I know." 
 
 "Of course of course ; such a pretty little girl, too." 
 
 Then the two fell into quite a pleasant chat, and it was 
 not until he moved away from beside her, to make room 
 for the doctor's wife, that Mrs. Huzzard observed that 
 one arm hung limply beside him, and that one leg dragged 
 a little as he walked. He was a man who bore paralysis 
 with him. 
 
THE DANCE 111 
 
 She thought, while he was talking to her, that he 
 looked like a man who had seen trouble. A weary, drawn 
 look was about his eyes. She had seen dissipated men 
 who looked like that ; yet this stranger seemed in no ways 
 a man of that sort. He was so quiet and polite; and 
 when she saw the almost useless limbs, she thought she 
 knew then what that look in his face meant. 
 
 But there were too many people about for her to study 
 one very particularly, so she lost sight of the stranger, 
 Harris, and did not observe that he had moved near the 
 door of the sitting room, or that the door was open. 
 
 But it was; arid just inside of it Lyster stood watch- 
 ing, with a certain vexation, a game of cards played there. 
 The doctor had withdrawn, and was looking with amuse- 
 ment at the two players 'Tana and Captain Leek. The 
 captain was getting the worst of it. His scattered whis- 
 kers fairly bristled with perplexity and irritation. Sev- 
 eral times he displayed bad judgment in drawing and 
 discarding, because of his nervous annoyance, while she 
 seemed surprisingly skillful or lucky, and was not at all 
 disturbed by her opponent's moods. She looked smilingly 
 straight into his eyes, and when she exhibited the last win- 
 ning hand, and the captain dashed his hand angrily into 
 the pack, she waited for one civil second and then swept 
 the stakes toward her. 
 
 "What! Don't you want to play any more, captain?" 
 she asked, maliciously. "I would really like to have an- 
 other dance, yet if you want revenge " 
 
 "Go and dance by all means," he said, testily. "When 
 I want another game of poker, I'll let you know, but I 
 must say I do not approve of such pastime for young 
 ladies." 
 
112 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "None of us would, if in your place, captain," laughed 
 the doctor. "And, for my part, I am glad I did not play 
 against her luck." 
 
 The captain mumbled something about a difference be- 
 tween luck and skill, while 'Tana swept the money off the 
 table and laughed not a pleasant laugh, either. 
 
 "One two three four ! twenty dollars that is 
 about a dollar a minute, isn't it ?" she asked provokingly. 
 "Well, captain, I guess we are square up to to-night, and 
 if you want to open another account, I'm ready." 
 
 She spoke with the dash and recklessness of a boy. 
 Lyster noticed it again, and resented it silently. But 
 when she turned, she read the displeasure in his eyes. 
 
 "Oh, it's you, is it?" she inquired airily. "Is it time 
 for our dance ? You see, the captain wanted some amuse- 
 ment, and, as the doctor was nearly asleep over the cards, 
 I came in and helped them out." 
 
 "Beautifully," agreed the doctor. 
 
 But Lyster borrowed no cheeriness from their smiles. 
 
 "I think it is our dance," Lyster observed. "And if 
 yon will come " 
 
 "Certain," she said, with a nod; but at the door she 
 paused. "Won't you keep this money for me?" she asked. 
 "I've no pocket. And just put a five in a locked pocket 
 'for keeps/ please ; I owe it to you." 
 
 "Tome? You won that five." 
 
 "No, I didn't ; I cheated you," she whispered. "Keep 
 it, please do." 
 
 She pushed the money into his hand. One piece of it 
 fell and rolled to the feet of the stranger, who leaned 
 carelessly against the doorway, but in such a position that 
 he could easily see into the sitting room. 
 
 He stooped and picked up the money. 
 
THE DANCE 
 
 "Yours, miss ?" he said, courteously, and she smilingly 
 reached out her hand for it the hand on which Overton's 
 gift, the strange ring, glittered. 
 
 The paralytic stranger barely repressed an exclamation 
 as he noticed it, and from it his eyes went swiftly, ques- 
 tioningly, to the girl's face. 
 
 "Yes, it's mine," she said, with a nod of thanks. Then 
 she smiled a little as she saw where his attention was 
 given. "Are you wondering if the snakes you see are 
 the result of odd drinks? Well, they are not; they are 
 of metal and won't hurt you." 
 
 "Beg, pardon, miss. Guess I did look at your pretty 
 ring sharp ; and it is enough to make a man shake if he's 
 been drinking. But a little drink will do me a long time." 
 
 Then Lyster and the girl passed on, the girl smiling at 
 the little exchange of words with the stranger. But Lyster 
 himself was anything but well pleased at the entire affair. 
 He resented the fact that he had found her there gam- 
 bling, that she had shown such skill, that she had turned to 
 the seedy-looking stranger and exchanged words, as men 
 might do, but as a girl assuredly should not do. All these 
 things disturbed him. Why, he could scarcely have told. 
 Only that morning she had been but a little half-savage 
 child, who amused him by her varying moods and sharp 
 speech. But to-night, in her graceful white gown, she 
 seemed to have grown taller and more womanly and win- 
 some. The glances and homage of the most acceptable 
 youths about revealed to him the fact that she was some- 
 what more than the strong swimmer or clever canoeist. 
 She was deemed charming by others, in a very different 
 fashion than he had thought of her, and she appeared 
 rather too conscious of the fact. He fancied that she even 
 delighted in letting him see that others showed deference 
 
114 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 to her, when he had only that day teased her as carelessly 
 as he would have teased a boy into a rage. 
 
 Then to stop and jest like that with the insignificant 
 stranger by the door ! Mr. Lyster said a bad word in his 
 mind, and decided that the presuming masculinity of the 
 settlement would be allowed few chances for favors 
 the remainder of the evening. He intended to guard her 
 himself a formidable guard for the purpose, as a man 
 would need a good deal of self-reliance to try for favor 
 if so handsome a personality as Lyster's was an opponent. 
 
 But the rather shabby stranger, standing by the inner 
 door, scarcely noticed the noticeable young fellow. All 
 his attention was given to the girl who had spoken to 
 him so frankly. She passed on and did not observe his 
 excessive interest. But his eyes lighted up when he heard 
 her voice speaking to him, and his face flushed with 
 color as he stroked his beard with his well hand and gazed 
 after her. 
 
 "So this is where the trail begins, is it ?" he whispered 
 to the trembling hand at his lips. "Well, I would have 
 looked for it many another place before commencing with 
 a partner of Mr. Dan Overton law-and-order man. He 
 must have gulled this whole territory beautifully to have 
 them swear by him as they do. And 'Monte' is his pro- 
 t$ge! Well, Miss or Mr. Monte whichever it is 
 your girl's toggery is more becoming than the outfit I 
 saw you wear last ; but though your hair is a little darker, 
 I'd swear to you anywhere yes, and to the ring, too. 
 Well, I think I'll rest my weary body in this 'burgh* for 
 a few weeks to come. If the devil hasn't helped his own, 
 and cheated me, this partner Mr. 'Rivers' is yet alive 
 and in the flesh. If so, there is one place he will drift 
 sooner or later, and that is to this young gambler. And 
 
THE DANCE 115 
 
 then then death will be no sham for him, for I will be 
 here, too." 
 
 To 'Tana jubilant with her victory over her in- 
 stinctive antagonist, the captain all the evening was 
 made for her pleasure, and she floated in the paradise of 
 sixteen years; and the world where people danced was 
 the only world worth knowing. 
 
 "I will be good now I can be as good as an angel 
 since I've got even with the captain." 
 
 She whispered those words to Lyster, whose hand was 
 clasping hers, whose arm was about her waist, as they 
 drifted around the rather small circle, to a waltz played 
 on a concertina and a banjo. 
 
 She looked up at him, mutely asking him to believe 
 her. Her desire for revenge satisfied, she could be a very 
 good girl now. 
 
 It was just then that Overton, who stood outside the 
 window, glanced in and saw her lovely upturned face 
 saw the red lips move in some pouting protest, to which 
 Lyster smiled but looked doubtfully down at her. To 
 the man watching them from without, the two seemed 
 always so close so confidential. At times he even won- 
 dered if Lyster had not learned more than himself of 
 her life before that day at Akkomi's camp. 
 
 All that evening Dan had not once entered the room 
 where they danced, or added in any way to their merry- 
 making. He had stood outside the door most of the time, 
 or sometimes rested a little' way from it on a store box, 
 where he smoked placidly, and inspected the people who 
 gathered to the dance. 
 
 All the invited guests came early, and perfect harmony 
 reigned within. A few of the unsavory order of citizens 
 had sauntered by, as though taking note of the pleasures 
 
116 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 from which they were excluded. But it was not until 
 almost twelve o'clock just after Overton had turned 
 away from watching the waltz that a pistol shot rang 
 out in the street, and several dancers halted. 
 
 Some of the men silently moved to the door, but just 
 then the door was opened by Overton, who looked in. 
 
 "It was only my gun went off by accident," he said, 
 carelessly. "So don't let me stampede the party. Go on 
 with your music." 
 
 The stranger, Harris, was nearest the door, and essayed 
 to pass out, but Overton touched him on the arm. 
 
 "Not just yet," he said hurriedly. "Don't come out or 
 others will follow, and there'll be trouble. Keep them 
 in some way." 
 
 Then the door closed. The concertina sobbed and 
 shrieked out its notes, and drowned a murmur of voices 
 on the outside. One man lay senseless close to the door- 
 step, and four more men with two women stood a little 
 apart from him. 
 
 "If another shot is fired, your houses will be torn 
 down over your heads to-morrow," said Overton, threat- 
 eningly ; "and some of you will not be needing an earthly 
 habitation by that time, either." 
 
 "Fury! It is Overton!" muttered one of the men to 
 another. "They told us he wasn't in this thing." 
 
 "What for you care?" demanded the angry tones of a 
 Dutch woman. "What difference that make eh? If so 
 be as we want to dance well, then, we go in and dance 
 you make no mistake." 
 
 But the men were not so aggressive. The most auda- 
 cious was the senseless one, who had fired the revolver 
 and whom Overton had promptly and quietly knocked 
 down. 
 
THE DANCE 117 
 
 "I don't think you men want any trouble of this sort/* 
 he remarked, and ignored the women entirely. "If you've 
 been told that I'm not in this, that's just where some one 
 told you a lie ; and if it's a woman, you should know bet- 
 ter than to follow her lead. If these women get through 
 that door, it will be when I'm an angel. I'm doing you 
 all a good turn by not letting the boys in there know about 
 this. No religion could save you, if I turned them loose 
 on you ; so you had better get away quiet, and quick." 
 
 The men seemed to appreciate his words. 
 
 "That's so," mumbled one. 
 
 And as the other woman attempted a protest, one of 
 the men put his hand over her mouth, and, picking her 
 up bodily, walked down the street with her, she all the 
 time kicking and making remarks of a vigorous nature. 
 
 The humor of the situation appealed to the delicate 
 senses of her companions, until they laughed right 
 heartily, and the entire tone of the scene was changed 
 from a threat of battle to an excuse for jollity. The man 
 on the ground reeled upward to his feet with the help of 
 a shake from Overton. 
 
 "Where's my gun?" he asked, sulkily. 
 
 Blood trickling from a cut brow compelled him to 
 keep one eye shut. 
 
 "Overton has it," explained one of his friends. "Come 
 on, and don't try another racket." 
 
 "I want my gun it was him hit me," growled the 
 wounded one, whose spirits had not been enlivened by 
 the spectacle the rest had witnessed. 
 
 "You are right it was him," agreed the other, darkly ; 
 "and if it hadn't been for breaking up the dance, I guess 
 he'd a-killed you. Come on. You left a ball in his 
 arm by the looks of things, and all he did was to knock 
 
118 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 you still. He may want to do more to-morrow. But as 
 you have no gun, you'd better wait till then." 
 
 The door had been opened, and the light streamed out. 
 Men talked in a friendly, jovial fashion on and about the 
 doorstep. They saw the forms moving away in the 
 shadows, but no sign of disturbance met them. 
 
 Overton stood looking in the window at the dancers. 
 The waltz was not yet finished, and Tana and Lyster 
 drifted past within a few feet of him. The serenity of 
 their evening had not been disturbed. Her face held all 
 of joyous content so it seemed to the watcher. She 
 laughed as she danced; and hearing the music of her 
 high, girlish tones, he forgot for a time the stinging little 
 pain in his arm, until his left hand, thrust into his coat 
 pocket, slowly filled with blood. Then Dan turned to the 
 man nearest him. 
 
 "If Doctor Harrison is still in there, would you do me 
 the favor of asking him to come outside for a few min- 
 utes ?" he asked, and the man addressed stepped closer. 
 
 "There is a back way into the house. Hadn't you bet- 
 ter just step in that way, and have him fix you up? He's 
 in the back room, alone, smoking." 
 
 Overton turned with an impatient exclamation, and a 
 sharp, questioning look. It was the half-paralyzed 
 stranger Harris. 
 
 "Oh, I ain't interfering!" he said, amiably. "But as 
 I slipped out through the back door before your visitors 
 left, I dropped to the fact that you had some damage done 
 to that left arm. Yes, I'll carry any message you like 
 to your doctor, for I like your nerve. But I must say it's 
 thankless work to stand up as a silent target for cold lead, 
 just so some one else may dance undisturbed. Take an 
 old man's advice, sonny, do some of the dancing yourself." 
 
THE STRANGER'S WARNING 119 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE STRANGER'S WARNING. 
 
 That one festive night decided the immediate future 
 of 'Tana. All her joy in it did not prevent a decision that 
 it should be the last in her experience, for a year to come, 
 at least. 
 
 It was Lyster who broached the subject, and Overton 
 looked at him closely while he talked. 
 
 "You are right," he decided, at last; "a school is the 
 easiest path out of this jungle, I reckon. I thought of a 
 school, but didn't know where I'm not posted on such 
 things. But if you know the trail to a good one, we'll 
 fix it. She has no family folks at all, so " 
 
 "I'd like to ask, if it's allowable" 
 
 "Don't ask me about her people," said the other, 
 quickly ; "she wouldn't want me to talk of them. You see, 
 Max, all sorts get caught in whirlpools of one sort or 
 another, when ventures are made in a new country like 
 this, and often it's a thoroughbred that goes under first, 
 while a lot of scrub stock will pull through an epidemic 
 and never miss a feed. Well, her folks belonged to the 
 list that has gone under speculating people, you know, 
 who left her stranded when they started 'over the range/ 
 and she's sensitive about it has a sort of pride, too, and 
 doesn't want to be pitied, I guess. Anyway, I've prom- 
 ised she sha'n't be followed by any reminder of her mis- 
 fortunes, and I can't go into details." 
 
120 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "Oh, that's all right ; I'm not curious to know whether 
 her folks had a palace or a cabin to live in. But she has 
 brightness. I like her well enough to give up some 
 useless pastimes that are expensive, and contribute the 
 results to a school fund for her, if you say yes. But I 
 should like to know if her people belonged to the class 
 we call ladies and gentlemen that is all." 
 
 Overton did not answer at once. His eyes were turned 
 toward his bandaged arm, and a little wrinkle grew be- 
 tween his brows. 
 
 "The man is dead, and I don't think there's anything 
 for me to say as to his gentlemanly qualities," he said at 
 last. "He was a prospector and speculator, with an equal 
 amount of vice and virtue in him, I suppose; just about 
 like the rest of us. Her mother I never saw, but have 
 reason to think she was a lady." 
 
 "And you say every word of that as if they were drawn 
 from you with forceps," said Lyster, cheerily. "Well, 
 I'll not bother you about it again. But, you see, there is 
 a cousin of mine at the school I spoke of, and I wanted 
 to know because of that. It's all right, though ; my own 
 instincts would tell me she came of good stock. But even 
 good stock will grow wild, you know, if it doesn't get 
 the right sort of training. You know, old fellow, I'm 
 downright in earnest about wanting to help you about 
 her." 
 
 "Yes, I know. You have, too," said the other. "You've 
 pointed out the school and all, and we see she can't be 
 left here." 
 
 "Not when you are ranging around the hills, and never 
 a man to take your place as a guard," agreed Lyster. "I 
 feel about two years old ever since I heard of how you 
 kept annoyances from us last night while we were so 
 
THE STRANGER'S WARNING 121 
 
 serenely unconscious of your trials. 'Tana will scarcely 
 look at me this morning, for no reason but that I did not 
 divine the state of affairs and go to help you. That girl 
 has picked up so much queer knowledge herself that she 
 expects every one to be gifted with second sight." 
 
 Then he told, with a good deal of amusement, the 
 episode of the poker game and the discomfiture of the 
 captain. 
 
 Overton said little. He was not so much shocked or 
 vexed over it as Lyster had been, because he had lived 
 more among people to whom such pastimes were not 
 unusual. 
 
 "And I offered to teach her 'seven-up,' because it was 
 easy," he remarked grimly. "Yes, the school is best. 
 You see, even if I am on the ground, I'm not a fit guard- 
 ian. Didn't I give her leave to get square with the 
 old man? While, if I'd been the right sort of a guard- 
 ian, she would have been given a moral lecture on the 
 sinfulness of revenge. I guess we'd better begin to talk 
 school right away." 
 
 "I imagine she'll object at first, through force of habit, 
 and protest that she knows enough for one girl." 
 
 But she did not. She listened with wonder in her eyes, 
 and something of shamed contrition in her face, and 
 knew so well so very well that she did not deserve it. 
 She had wanted really wanted to vex him when she 
 played the cards, when she had danced past, and never 
 let on she saw him looking somberly in at the window 
 the night before. But in the light of morning and with 
 the knowledge of his wounded arm, all her resentment 
 was gone. She could scarcely speak even the words she 
 meant to say. 
 
 "I can't do that go, I mean. It will cost so muclx, 
 
122 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 and I have no money. I can't make any here, and and 
 you are not rich enough to lend it to me, even if I could 
 pay it back some day, so " 
 
 "Never mind about the money; it will be got. I'm 
 to start up north of this soon, and this doesn't seem a good 
 place to school you in, anyway. So, for a year or so, 
 you go to that school down in Helena. Max knows the 
 name of it ; I forget. When you get all rigged out with an 
 education, and have a capital of knowledge, you can talk 
 then about the money and paying it, if it makes you feel 
 more comfortable. But just now you be a good little 
 girl ; go down there with Max to the school, study hard, 
 so that if I drop into a chasm some night, or am picked 
 off by a bullet, you'll have learned, anyway, how to look 
 after yourself in the right way." 
 
 "Oh, it's Mr. Max, then, that's planning this, is it?" 
 she asked suddenly, and her face flushed a little he must 
 have thought in anger, for he said: 
 
 "Why yes; that is mostly. You see, Tana, I've 
 drifted out from the ways of the world while Max has 
 kept up with them. So he proposed well, no matter 
 about the plan. I'm to suggest it to you, and as it's no 
 loss and all gain to you, I reckon you'll be sensible enough 
 to say yes." 
 
 "I will," she answered, quietly; "it is very kind of 
 you both to be so good to me, for I haven't been good to 
 you to either of you, I'm sorry I maybe I'll be better 
 when I come back and maybe I can pay you some 
 day." 
 
 "Me ? Oh, you won't owe me anything, and I reckon 
 you'd better not make plans about coming back here! 
 The books and things you learn will likely turn you 
 
THE STRANGER'S WARNING 123- 
 
 toward other places finer places. This is all right for 
 men who have money to make; but you " 
 
 "I'm coming back here," she said, nodding her head 
 emphatically. "Maybe not for always but I'll come back 
 some time I will." 
 
 She was twisting her fingers in a nervous way, and, as- 
 he watched her, he noticed that her little brown hands 
 were devoid of all ornament. 
 
 "Where is the ring?" he asked. "Have you lost it aL 
 ready?" 
 
 "No, it's here in my pocket," and she drew it out that 
 he might see. "I I took it off this morning when I 
 saw you were shot. You'll laugh, I suppose; but I 
 thought the snakes brought bad luck." 
 
 "So you are superstitious ?" 
 
 "Oh, I don't know! I'm not afraid very often; but 
 sometimes I think there are signs that are true. I've 
 heard old folks say so, and talk of things unlucky. I 
 took the ring off when I saw your arm." 
 
 "But the arm was only scratched not worth a thought 
 from a little girl like you," he said; "and surely not 
 worth throwing off your jewelry for. But some day 
 some day of good luck, I may find you a prettier ring 
 one more like a girl's ring, you know; one you can 
 wear and not be afraid." 
 
 "If I'm afraid, it isn't for myself," she said, with that 
 old, unchildlike look he had not seen in her eyes of late. 
 "But I'll tell you what I'm afraid of. Have you ever 
 heard of people who were 'hoodoos'? I guess you have. 
 Well, sometimes I'm afraid I'm just that like the snakes 
 in that ring. I'm afraid I bring bad luck to people 
 people I like. It isn't the harm to me that ever frightens 
 
124 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 me. I guess I can fight that; but no one can fight a 
 'hoodoo/ I guess ; and your arm " 
 
 "Oh, see here! Wake up, 'Tana, you're dreaming! 
 Who put that cussed nonsense into your head ? 'Hoodoo !' 
 Pshaw! I will have patience with you in anything but 
 that. Did any one look at you last night as if you were 
 a 'hoodoo' ? Here comes Max ; we'll ask him." 
 
 But she did not smile at their badinage. 
 
 "I was in earnest, and you think it only funny," she 
 said. "Well, maybe you won't always laugh at it. Men 
 who know a heap believe in 'hoodoos.' ' : 
 
 "But not 'hoodoos' possessed of the tout ensemble of 
 Miss Rivers," objected Lyster. "You are simply trying 
 to scare us me, out of the journey I hoped to make with 
 you to Helena. You are trying to evade a year of 
 scholastic training we have planned for you, and you 
 would like to prophesy that the boat will blow up or the 
 cars run off the track if you embark. But it won't. You 
 will say good-by to your ogre of a guardian to-morrow. 
 You will be guarded by no less a personage than my im- 
 maculate self to the door of your academy; from which 
 you will emerge, later on, with never a memory of koo- 
 doos' in your wise brain ; and you will live to a green old 
 age and make clay busts of us both when we are gray 
 haired. There ! I think I'm a good healthy sort of a 
 prophet; and as a reward will you go with me to-mor- 
 row?" 
 
 "With you ? Then it is you who " 
 
 "Who has planned the whole brilliant scheme? Ex- 
 actly the journey part of it at all events; and I'm not 
 so modest as our friend here. I'll take the blame of my 
 share, and his, too, if he doesn't speak up for himself. 
 
THE STRANGER'S WARNING 125 
 
 Here comes your new friend, Dan. Where did you pick 
 him up?" 
 
 It was the man Harris, and beside him was the captain. 
 They were talking with some animation of late Indian 
 raids to the westward. 
 
 "I doubt if it was Indians at all who did the thiev- 
 ing," remarked Harris; "there are always a lot of scrub 
 whites ready to take advantage of war signals, and do 
 devilment of that sort, made up as reds." 
 
 "Oh, yes some say so ! That man Holly used to get 
 the credit of that sort of renegade work. Handsome 
 Holly he was called once. But now that he's dead, maybe 
 we'll see he was not the only one to work mischief be- 
 tween the whites and reds." 
 
 "Holly? Lee Holly?" asked Lyster. "Why, didn't we 
 hear a rumor that he wasn't dead at all, but had been seen 
 somewhere near Butte?" 
 
 "I didn't," returned Overton, who was the one ad- 
 dressed, "though it may be so. He's a very slippery speci- 
 men and full of schemes, from what I hear. But he 
 doesn't seem to range over this territory, so I've never run 
 across him. It would be like him, though, to play dead 
 when the Government men grew warm on his trail, and 
 he'd no doubt get plenty of help from his Indian allies." 
 
 Harris was watching him keenly, and the careless hon- 
 esty of the speaker's face and tone evidently perplexed 
 him, for he turned with a baffled look to the girl, who 
 stood with down-dropped eyes, and twisted a spray of 
 leaves nervously around her fingers. He noticed one 
 quick, troubled glance she gave Overton, but even to his 
 suspicious eyes it did not seem a regard given a fellow- 
 conspirator. 
 9 
 
126 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "I believe it was the doctor I heard speak of the rumor 
 that Holly was yet above ground," said Lyster. "The 
 mail came up yesterday, and perhaps he found it in the 
 papers. Don't think I had heard of the man before. Is 
 he one of the important people up here?" 
 
 "Rather," remarked Overton, "an accomplished crook 
 who has dabbled in several trades in the Columbia River 
 region. The latest was a wholesale horse steal from a 
 ranch over in Washington Indian work, with him as 
 leader. The regulars from the fort got after them, 
 there was an ugly fight, and the reds reported Holly as 
 killed. That is the last I heard of him. You were ask- 
 ing me yesterday if he ever prospected in our valley, 
 didn't you?" he asked, turning to Harris. 
 
 "A man made undue importance of by the stupid In- 
 dians," declared Captain Leek. "He humored their super- 
 stitions and played medicine man with them, I've heard; 
 and he had a boy for a partner a young slip the gamblers 
 called 'Monte' down in Coeur d'Alne. Some said it was 
 his son." 
 
 "A fine instructor for youth," observed Lyster. "Who 
 could expect anything but vice from a man who had such 
 a boyhood?" 
 
 "But you would," said 'Tana, suddenly, "if you knew 
 that boy when he grew to be a man. If he was bad, you'd 
 want him to get off the earth where you walked; and 
 you never once would stop to ask if he was brought up 
 right or not you know you wouldn't nobody does, I 
 guess. I don't know why it is, but it seems all wrong to 
 me. Maybe, though, when I go to school, and learn 
 things, I will think like the rest, and not care." 
 
 Lyster shrugged his shoulders and looked after her 
 
THE STRANGER'S WARNING 12T 
 
 as she vanished into the regions where Mrs. Huzzard 
 was concocting dishes for the mid-day meal. 
 
 "I doubt if she thinks like the rest," he remarked. 
 "How fiery she is, and how independent in her views of 
 things." 
 
 But Overton smiled at her curt speech. 
 
 "Poor 'Tana has lived among rough scenes until she 
 learns to judge quickly, and for herself," he said. "Her 
 words are true enough, too; she may have known just 
 such boys as Holly's clever little partner and seen how 
 hard it was for them to be any good. I wonder now what 
 has become of young 'Monte' since Holly disappeared. 
 He would be a good one to follow, if there is doubt as 
 to Holly's death being a fact. I believe there was a re- 
 ward out for him some time ago, to stimulate lagging 
 justice. Don't know if it's withdrawn or not." 
 
 "Square," decided Harris, in silent communion with 
 himself, as he surveyed Overton; "dead square, and 
 don't scent the trail. I'd like to know what their little 
 game is with him. Some devilment, sure." 
 
 On one pretext and another he kept close to Overton. 
 He was studying the stalwart, easy-going keeper of the 
 peace, and Dan, who had a sort of compassion for all 
 who were halt, or blind, or homeless, took kindly enough 
 to the semi-paralyzed stranger. Harris seemed to be- 
 long nowhere in particular, yet knew each trail of the 
 Kootenai and Columbia country, knew each drift where 
 the yellow sands were found each mine where the silver 
 hunt paid best returns. 
 
 "You've prospected some, I see, even if you don't get 
 over the ground very fast," Dan remarked ; "and with it 
 all, I reckon you've staked out some pay claims for your- 
 self?" 
 
128 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 The face of Harris contracted in a swift frown; he 
 drew a long breath, and his clasped hands tightened on 
 each other. 
 
 "I did," he said, in a choked, nervous sort of way; "I 
 did. If I could tell you of it, I would. You're the sort 
 .of man I'd But never mind. I'm not well yet not 
 strong enough to get excited over it. I've got to take 
 things easy for a spell, or another stroke of this paralysis 
 will come as my share. That handicaps me considerable. 
 I was was upset by something unexpected last night, 
 and I've had a queer, shaky feeling ever since ; can't ar- 
 ticulate clear. Did you notice? The the only thing 
 under God's heaven I'm afraid of is that paralysis that 
 it will catch me again before I get my work done ; and 
 to-day" 
 
 "Don't talk of it," advised Overton, as he noticed how 
 the man's voice hesitated and trembled, how excitable he 
 was over the subject of his mineral finds and his threat- 
 ened helplessness. "Don't think of it, and you'll come 
 out all right yet. If I can do anything for you " 
 
 The other man laughed in a spasmodic, contemptuous 
 fashion. 
 
 "For me ?" he said. "You can't. I thought you could, 
 but I was on a blind trail you can't. I can give you a 
 lift, though yes, I can. It's about about that girl. 
 You you tried to guard her last night, as if she was a 
 flower the rough wind must not blow on. I know I 
 watched you. I've been there, and know." 
 
 "Know what? You're an infernal fool!" burst out 
 Dan, with all his good nature out of sight. "No hints 
 about the girl, or or anything else ! I won't have it !" 
 
 "It's no hint; facts are all I'd mention to you, and I'd 
 do that just because I think you're square. And they 
 
THE STRANGER'S WARNING 129 
 
 they are playing you. See? For he ain't dead. I don't 
 know what their game is with you, but he ain't dead ; and 
 there there's no telling what scheme he's got her into 
 this this territory for. So I want you to know. I don't 
 want you to be caught in any trap of theirs. She she 
 looks all right ; but he's a devil a thing infernal a " 
 
 Overton caught him by one arm, and swung him around 
 like a child. 
 
 "Speak clear. No more of your blasted stuttering or 
 beating away from points ; who is the man you talk of ? 
 Who is playing with me? Now speak." 
 
 "Why, Monte, the girl ; Monte and Lee Holly. He's- 
 somewhere alive that's what I'm trying to tell you. I 
 was hunting for him when I found her laying low here,, 
 don't you understand? You stare so. It is Lee Holly 
 and Ah my God!" 
 
 The last words were gurgled in his throat; his face 
 whitened, and he sank to the ground as though his bones 
 had suddenly been converted into jelly a strange, shape- 
 less heap of humanity as he lay at Overton's feet. Over- 
 ton bent over him, and after a moment of blank amaze, 
 lifted the helpless head, and almost dropped it again 
 when the eyes, appealing and keenly conscious, met his 
 own. There was a queer chuckling sound in the man's 
 throat ; he was trying to speak, but could not. The secret 
 he was trying to tell was buried back of those speechless, 
 lips, and one more stroke of the doom he feared had 
 overtaken him. 
 
130 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE STRANGER'S LOVE STORY. 
 
 'Tana sat alone in her room a few hours later, and 
 from the window watched the form of Ora Harrison dis- 
 appear along the street. The latter had been sent by 
 her father with some medicine for the paralyzed stranger, 
 and the girls had chatted of the school 'Tana was to at- 
 tend, and of the schools Ora had gone to and all the 
 friends she remembered there, who now sent her such 
 kind letters. Ora told 'Tana of the lovely time she ex- 
 pected to have when the steamers would come up from 
 Bonner's Ferry to the Kootenai Lake region, for then her 
 friends were to come in the summers, and the warm 
 months were to be like holidays. 
 
 All this girlish frankness, all the cheery friendship 
 of the doctor's family filled 'Tana with a wild unrest 
 against herself against the world. 
 
 "It would be easy to be good if a person lived like that 
 always," she thought, "in a nice home, with a mother to 
 kiss me and a father I was not ashamed of. I felt stupid 
 when they talked to me. I could only think how happy 
 they were, and that they did not seem to know it. And 
 Ora was sweet and sorry for me because my parents were 
 dead. Huh !" she grunted, disdainfully, in the Indian 
 fashion peculiar to her at times. "If she knew how I felt 
 about it she'd hate me, I suppose. They'd all think I was 
 bad clear through. They wouldn't understand the reason 
 
THE STRANGER'S LOVE STORY 131 
 
 no nice women like them could. Oh, if the school 
 would only make me nice like that ! But I suppose it's 
 got to be born in people, and I was born different." 
 
 Even this reason did not render her more resigned; 
 and, to add to her disquiet, there came to her the mem- 
 ory of eyes whose gaze made her shiver the eyes of the 
 stranger whom Overton had carried into the house for 
 dead, but whose brain was yet alive. He had looked at 
 her with a strange, wild stare, and Overton himself had 
 turned his eyes toward her in moody questioning when 
 she came forward to help. He had accepted the help, 
 but each time she raised her eyes she saw that Dan was 
 looking at her with a new watchfulness ; all his interest 
 in the stricken stranger did not keep him from that. 
 
 "If any one is accountable for this, I guess I'm the 
 man," he confessed, ruefully. "He told me he was afraid 
 of this, yet I was fool enough to lose my temper and 
 turn him around rough. It might have struck him, any- 
 way ; but my conscience doesn't let me down easy. He'll 
 be my care till some one comes along with a stronger 
 claim." 
 
 "Maybe there is some one somewhere," said 'Tana. 
 "There might be letters, if it would be right to look." 
 
 "If there are relatives anywhere in the settlements, 
 I guess they'd be glad enough if I'd look," decided Over- 
 ton. "There is no way to get permission from him, 
 though," and he looked in the helpless man's eyes. "I 
 don't know what you'd say to this if you could speak, 
 stranger," he said ; "but to go through your pockets seems 
 the only way to locate you or your friends ; so I'll have to 
 do it." 
 
 It was not easy to do, with those eyes staring at him 
 in that horrible way. But he tried to avoid the eyes, and 
 
132 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 thrust his hand into the inner pocket, drawing out an 
 ordinary notebook, some scraps of newspaper folded up 
 in it, and two letters addressed to Joe Hammond ; one to 
 Little Dalles, and the other had evidently been delivered 
 by a messenger, for no destination was marked on it. It 
 was an old letter and the envelope was worn through all 
 around the edges. Another paper was wrapped around 
 it, and the writing was of a light feminine character. 
 Overton touched it with a certain reverence and looked 
 embarrassed. 
 
 "I think, Mrs. Huzzard, I will ask you to read this, 
 as it seems a lady's letter, and if there is any information 
 in it, you can give it to us; if not, I'll just put it back in 
 his pocket and hope luck will tell us what the letter 
 doesn't." 
 
 But Mrs. Huzzard demurred : "And me that short- 
 sighted that even specs won't cure it ! No, indeed. I'm 
 no one to read important papers. But here's 'Tana, with 
 eyes like a hawk for sighting things. She'll read it fast 
 enough." 
 
 Overton looked undecided, remembering those strange 
 insinuations of the now helpless man, and feeling that 
 the man himself might not be willing. 
 
 "I well I guess not," he said, at last. "It ain't just 
 square to send a little girl blindfold like that into a 
 stranger's claim. We'll let some one over twenty-one 
 read the letters. You'll do, Max, and if it ain't all right, 
 you can stop up short. " 
 
 So Lyster read the treasured message, all in the same 
 feminine writing. His sensitive face grew grave, and 
 he turned compassionate glances toward the helpless man 
 as he read the letters, according to their dates. The 
 
THE STRANGER'S LOVE STORY 133 
 
 oldest one was the only one not sad. Its postmark was a 
 little town many miles to the south. 
 
 "DEAR OLD JOE: It's awful to be this near you, and 
 know you are sick, without being able to get to you. I 
 just arrived, and your partner has met me, and told me 
 all about it. But I'll go up with him, just the same; and 
 when you are able to travel we can come down to a town 
 and be married, instead of to-day, as we had set on. So 
 that's all right, and don't you worry. Your partner, 
 John Ingalls, is as nice as he can be to me. Why did 
 you not tell me how good looking he was? Maybe you 
 never discovered it you slow, prosy old Joe ! When 
 you wrote to me of that rich find you stumbled on, I was 
 sorry you had picked up a partner; for you always did 
 trust folks too much, and I was afraid you'd be cheated 
 by the stranger you picked up. But I guess that I was 
 wrong, Joe; for he is a very nice gentleman the nicest 
 I ever met, I think. And he talks about you just as if 
 he was your brother, and thought a heap of you. He 
 tried to tease me some, too asked how you ever came to- 
 catch such a pretty girl as me! Then I told him, Joe, 
 that you never had to catch me that I was little, and 
 hadn't any folks, and how you got your folks to give me a 
 home when you was only a boy ; and that you was al- 
 ways like a big brother to me till you made some money 
 in the mines. Then you wrote and asked me to come out 
 and marry you. He just laughed, Joe, and said it was not 
 a brother's love that a wife wanted ; but I don't think he 
 knows anything about that do .you? And, Joe, I came 
 pretty near telling him all about that richest find you 
 made the one you said you wanted me to be the first to 
 see. I thought, of course, you had told your partner, 
 just as you told me when you sent me the plan of it 
 what for, I don't know, Joe, for I never could find it in 
 the wide world, even if there was any chance of my hunt- 
 ing for it alone. Your partner asked me point blank if 
 you had written to me of any late find of yours, or of any 
 special location where you found good signs. I tried to 
 
134: THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 look innocent, and said maybe you had, but I couldn't re- 
 member. I didn't like to tell a story. I wanted to tell 
 him all the truth, and how rich you said we would be\ 
 I knew you would want to tell him yourself, so I managed 
 to keep quiet in time. But whenever he looks at me I feel 
 guilty. And he looks at me so kindly, and he is so good. 
 He says we can't begin our journey to you right away, 
 because he has provisions and things to get first; but we 
 will set out in three days. So I send this letter that you 
 will know I am on the road ; maybe we'll reach you first. 
 He is going to take me riding around this camp this 
 evening I mean Mr. Ingalls. He says I must get some 
 enjoyment before I go up there to the mountains, where 
 no one lives. He is the nicest stranger I ever met. But, 
 of course, I never was away from home much to meet 
 folks ; I guess, though, I might travel a long ways and not 
 meet any one so nice. He just brought me a pretty purse 
 made by the Indians. I hope you wear a big hat like he 
 does, and big, high boots. I never saw folks wear them 
 back home; but they do look nice. Now, good-by, Joe, 
 for a few days. Yours affectionately, FANNIE." 
 
 "Well, that letter is plain sailing," remarked Overton, 
 "but there is only one name in it we could follow up 
 the partner, John Ingalls. But I don't think I've heard of 
 him." 
 
 "Wait! there is another letter two more," said Lys- 
 ter ; and the others were silent as he read : 
 
 "JoE: I hope you'll hate me now. I can stand that 
 better than to know you still like me. I can't help it. I 
 am going with him your partner. He loves me, too, 
 Joe not in the brotherly way you did, but in a way that 
 makes me think of him and no one else. So I can't marry 
 any one but him. Maybe it's a sin to be false to you, Joe ; 
 but I never could go to you now. And I can't help go- 
 ing where he wants me to go. Don't be mad at him; 
 he can't help it either, I suppose. He says he will always 
 be good to me, and I am going. But my heart is heavy 
 
THE STRANGER'S LOVE STORY 135 
 
 as I write to you. I am not happy maybe because I love 
 him too much. But I am going. Try and forget me. 
 
 "FANNIE." 
 
 In dead silence Lyster unfolded the third paper. The 
 drama of this stranger's life was a pathetic thing to the 
 listeners, who looked at him with pity in their eyes, but 
 could utter no words of sympathy to the man who sat 
 there helpless and looked at them. Then the last, a pen- 
 ciled sheet, was read. 
 
 "Jos: I am dying, I think. The Indian woman with 
 me says so ; and I hope it is true. He came to me to-day 
 the first time in weeks. He never married me, as he 
 promised. He cursed me to-day because my baby face 
 led him away from a fortune he knows you found. I 
 never told him, though it is a wonder. All he knows of 
 it he heard you say in your sleep when you were sick that 
 time. To-day he told me you were paralyzed, Joe that 
 you are helpless still that he has taken Indians with 
 him there to your old claim, and searched every foot of 
 ground for the gold vein he thinks you know of. But it 
 is of no use, and he is furious over it, and so taunts me 
 of your helplessness alone in the wilderness. 
 
 "Joe, I still have the plan you made of the river and 
 the two little streams and the marked tree. Can't I 
 make amends some way for the wrong I did you? Is 
 there anywhere a friend you could trust to work the find 
 and take care of you? For if you are too helpless to 
 write yourself, and can get only the name of the person 
 to me, I will send the plan some way to him. I know I 
 am not to live long. I am in a perfect fever to hear from 
 you, and tell you that my sin against you weighs me down 
 to despair. 
 
 "I can't tell you of my life with him ; it is too horrible. 
 I do not even know who he is, for Ingalls is not his name. 
 We are with Indians and they call him 'Medicine/ and 
 seem to know him well. He has left me here, to-day, 
 and I feel I will never see him again. He tells me he 
 
136 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 has sent for a young white boy who is to be brought to 
 camp, and who will help care for me. Anything would 
 be better than the sly red faces about me; they fill me 
 with terror. My one hope is that the boy may get this 
 letter sent to you, and that some word may come to me 
 from you before my life ends. It has taken me all this 
 day to write to you. 
 
 "Good-by. I am dying miserably, and I deserve it. J 
 can't even tell you where to write me ; only we are with 
 Indians camped by a big river. Not far away is a wall 
 of rock, like a hill, beside the river, and Indian writing 
 is cut on the wall, and holes and things are cut all along 
 it." 
 
 "The Arrow lakes of the Columbia !" interrupted Over- 
 ton 
 
 "If the boy comes, and is to be trusted at all, he may 
 tell me more ; that is my only hope of this reaching you. 
 If you are not able to make another plan (and he says 
 your hands are powerless) remember, I have the one 
 you did make. If you can send me one word one name 
 of a friend I will try try so hard. He would kill me 
 if he knew, and I would be glad of it, if I could only help 
 you first. I feel that I will never see you again. 
 
 "FANNIE." 
 
 Mrs. Huzzard was crying and whispering, "Poor dear ! 
 poor child!" and even the voice of Lyster was not 
 quite steady as he read. Those straggling, weak pencil 
 marks had a pathos of their own to him. The letter, 
 crossed and recrossed by the lines, was on two pages, 
 evidently torn from the back of a book. 
 
 "It seems a sacrilege to dive into a man's feelings and 
 secrets like this," he said, ruefully. "It is! My only con- 
 solation is that I did it with good intent." 
 
 "And, after all, not a plain trail found that will help 
 us locate this man or his friends," decided Overton "not 
 a name we can really fasten to but the name on the en- 
 
THE STRANGER'S LOVE STORY 137 
 
 vclope Joe Hammond. It is too bad. Why, 'Tana! 
 Good God! 'Tana!" 
 
 For the girl, who had uttered no word, but had listened 
 to that last letter with whitened face and staring eyes, 
 leaned against the wall at its close, and a little gasp 
 from her drew their attention. 
 
 She fell forward on her face ere Overton could reach 
 her. 
 
 "'Tana, my girl, what is it ? Speak !" he entreated. 
 
 But the girl only whispered: "I know now! Joe 
 Joe Hammond !" and fainted dead away at the feet of the 
 paralyzed man. 
 
138 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 "TANA AND JOE. 
 
 "Just like a part in a play, captain that's just the way 
 it struck me," said Mrs. Huzzard, recounting the affair 
 for the benefit of the postmaster of Sinna Ferry. "The 
 man a-sitting there like a statue, with only his eyes look- 
 ing alive, and that poor, scared dear a-falling down on 
 the floor beside him, and looking as white as milk! I 
 never had a notion she was so easy touched by people's 
 troubles. It surely was a sorry story read from them 
 three letters. I tell you, sir, men leave women with 
 aching hearts many's the time," and she glanced senti- 
 mentally toward her listener; "though if there is one 
 place more heart-rending to be deserted in than another, I 
 think an Indian village would be the very worst. Just 
 to think of that poor dear dying there in a place she didn't 
 even know the name of." 
 
 "Humph ! I've an idea you are giving your sympathy 
 to the wrong individual," decided the captain. "It must 
 be easier even to die in some unknown corner than for 
 a living soul to be shut up in a dead body, after the man- 
 ner of this Harris, or Hammond, or whatever his name 
 is. I guess, from the looks of things, he must have col- 
 lapsed when that second letter reached him; had a bad 
 stroke, and was just recovering somewhat when he 
 strayed into this camp. Yes, madame, I've an idea he's 
 
TANA AND JOE 139 
 
 had a harder row to hoe than the girl; and, then, it 
 doesn't look as though he'd deserved it so much." 
 
 "Mr. Dan is mightily upset over it, ain't he?" 
 
 "Mr. Dan is just as likely to get upset over any other 
 vagabond who strays in his direction," grumbled the 
 captain. "Folks are always falling in his way to be 
 looked after. He has the worst luck! He never did a 
 bit of harm to this stranger nothing but drop a hand 
 on his shoulder; and all at once the man falls down 
 helpless. And Dan feels in duty bound to take care of 
 him. Then the girl 'Tana has to flop over in the same 
 way, just when I thought we were to get rid of her. 
 And she's another charge to look after. He'll be want- 
 ing to hire your house for a hospital next thing, Mrs. 
 Huzzard." 
 
 "And welcome he'd be to it for 'Tana," declared Mrs. 
 Huzzard, valiantly. "She's been a bit saucy to you at 
 times, and I know it; but, indeed, it's only because she 
 fancies you don't like her." 
 
 "Like her, madame ! A girl who plays poker, and 
 and" 
 
 "And wins," added Mrs. Huzzard, with a twinkle in 
 her eyes. "Ah, now, didn't Mr. Max tell me the whole 
 story! She is a clip, and I know it; but I think she 
 only meant that game as a bit of a joke." 
 
 "A twenty-dollar joke, Mrs. Huzzard, is too expensive 
 to be funny," growled the captain, with natural discon- 
 tent. "But if I could only convince myself that the money 
 was honestly won, I would not feel so annoyed over it; 
 but I can't no, madame. I am confident there was a 
 trick in that game some gambler's trick she has picked 
 up among her promiscuous acquaintances. And I am 
 annoyed more than ever annoyed now that there is a 
 
UO THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 chance of her remaining longer under Dan's care. She's 
 a dangerous prot$ge for a boy of his age, that's all." 
 
 "Dangerous! Oh, now, I've my doubts of that," said 
 Mrs. Huzzard, shaking her head, emphatically. "You 
 take my word for it, if she's dangerous as a girl to any 
 one in this camp, it's not Mr. Dan's peace of mind she's 
 disturbing, but that of his new friend." 
 
 "You mean Lyster? Ridiculous! A gentleman of 
 culture, used to the best society, give a thought to such 
 an unclassed individual? No, madame! don't you be- 
 lieve it. His interest about the school affair was doubt- 
 less to get her away from camp, and to keep her from be- 
 ing a responsibility on Dan's hands." 
 
 "Hum! maybe. But, from all the dances he danced 
 with her, and the way he waited on her, I'd a notion 
 that he did not think her a great responsibility at all." 
 
 This conversation occurred the morning after those 
 letters had been read. The owner of them was installed 
 in the best room Mrs. Huzzard had to offer, and miners 
 from all sections were cordially invited to visit the para- 
 lyzed man, in the vain hope that some one would chance 
 to remember his face, or help establish the lost miner's 
 identity ; for he seemed utterly lost from all record of his 
 past all but that he had loved a girl whom an unknown 
 partner had stolen. And Overton remembered that he 
 seemed especially interested in the whereabouts of the 
 renegade, Lee Holly. 
 
 The unknown Lee Holly's name had suddenly attained 
 the importance of a gruesome ghost to Overton. He had 
 stared gloomily at the paralytic, as though striving to 
 glean from the living eyes the secrets held close by the 
 silenced lips. 'Tana and Monte and Lee Holly ! his 
 little girl and those renegades ! Surely these persons 
 
TANA AND JOE 
 
 could have nothing to do with each other. Harris was 
 looney so Overton decided as he stalked back and forth 
 beside the house, glancing up once in a while to a win- 
 dow above him a window where he hoped to see 'Tana's 
 face ; for all one day had gone, and the evening come 
 again, yet he had never seen her since he had lifted her 
 unconscious form from beside the chair of Harris. Her 
 words, "I know now! Joe Joe Hammond!" were yet 
 whispering through his senses. Did those words mean 
 anything? or was the child simply overwrought by that 
 tragedy told in the letters ? He did not imagine she would 
 comprehend all the sadness of it until she had fallen in 
 that faint. 
 
 The night he had talked with her first in Akkomi's 
 tepee, and afterward in the morning by the river, he had 
 promised to be satisfied with what she chose to tell him 
 of herself, and ask no questions of her past. But since 
 the insinuations of Harris and her own peculiar words 
 and manner, he discovered that the promise was not 
 easy to keep especially when Lyster besieged him with 
 questions ; for 'Tana had spent the day utterly alone, but 
 for the ministrations of Mrs. Huzzard. She would not 
 see even the doctor, as she said she was not sick. She 
 would not see Overton, Lyster, or any one else, because 
 she said she did not want to talk; she was tired, and 
 that reason must suffice. It did for Lyster, especially 
 after he had received a nod, a smile, and a wave of her 
 hand from her window a circumstance he related hope- 
 fully to Overton, as it banished the lingering fear in his 
 mind that her exile was one caused by absolute illness. 
 
 "I candidly believe, Dan, that she is simply ashamed 
 of having fainted before us last evening fancies it looks 
 weak, I suppose; and she does pride herself so on her 
 10 
 
THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 ungirlish strength. I've no doubt she will emerge from 
 her seclusion to-morrow morning, and expect us to ig- 
 nore her sentimental swoon. How is your other patient?" 
 
 "Better." 
 
 "Much?" 
 
 "Well, just the difference of turning his eyes quickly 
 toward a thing, instead of slowly, as at first. The doctor 
 just told me he is able to move his head slightly, so I 
 guess he is not to go under this trip. But he'll never 
 be a well man again." 
 
 "Rather heavy on you, old fellow, that you feel bound 
 to look after him. I can't see the necessity of it. Why 
 don't you let the rest of the camp " 
 
 But Overton had turned away and resumed his walk. 
 Lyster stared at him in wonder for a moment and then 
 laughed. 
 
 "All right, Rothschild," he observed. "You know the 
 depth of your own purse best. But, to tell the truth, you 
 don't act like your own responsible self to-day. You go 
 moping around as though the other fellow's stroke had 
 touched you, too. You are a great fellow, Dan, to take 
 other people's loads on your shoulders; but it is a bad 
 habit, and you'd better reform." 
 
 "I will, when I have time," returned Overton, with a 
 grim smile. "Just now I have other things to think of. 
 Don't mind me." 
 
 "I sha'n't. I confess I don't mind any of you very 
 much since I saw the cheery vision of your prot$g$e at 
 the window and waving her hand to me, too; the first 
 bit of sunshine I've seen in camp to-day. For the aver- 
 age specimen I've run across has looked to me like you 
 glum." 
 
'TANA AND JOE 143 
 
 Receiving no reply whatever to this criticism, he strolled 
 away after a smiling glance upward to 'Tana's window. 
 But no girlish hand waved greeting to him this time, and 
 he comforted himself by humming, "My Love is but a 
 Lassie Yet." This was a mischievous endeavor to attract 
 Overton's attention and make him say something, even 
 though the something should prove uncomplimentary to 
 the warbler. 
 
 But it was a failure. Overton only thrust his hands 
 a little deeper in his pockets as he stared after the hand- 
 some, light-hearted fellow. Of course, it would be Max 
 to whom she would wave her hand ; and he was glad 
 somebody felt like singing, though he himself could not. 
 His mind was too much tormented by the thoughts of 
 those two who formed a nucleus for the hospital already 
 contemptuously alluded to by the captain. 
 
 And those two? 
 
 One sat almost motionless, as he had been for the 
 twenty-four hours. But as Mrs. Huzzard and the cap- 
 tain left his room, each spoke hopefully of his appear- 
 ance. Mrs. Huzzard especially was very confident his 
 face showed more animation than she had observed at 
 her noonday visit; and the fact that he could move his 
 head and nod in reply to questions certainly did seem 
 to promise recovery. 
 
 In the adjoining room, close to the very thin partition, 
 'Tana lay with ears strained to catch each word of 'the 
 conversation. But when her door was opened by Mrs. 
 Huzzard, all semblance of interest was gone, and she lay 
 on the little bed with closed eyes. 
 
 "I'm right glad she's taking a nap at last," said the good 
 soul as she closed the door softly. "That child scarce 
 slept a bit all night, and I know it. Curious how nervous 
 
THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 she got over that man's troubles. But, of course, he did 
 look awful at first, and nigh about scared me/' 
 
 'Tana lay still till the steps died away on the stairs, 
 and the voices were heard more faintly on the lower 
 floor. All the day she had waited for the people to leave 
 the stranger in the next room alone; and, for the first 
 time, no voice of visitors broke the silence of the upper 
 floor. 
 
 She slipped to the door and listened. Her movements 
 were stealthy as that of some forest animal evading a 
 hunter. She turned the knob softly, and with still swift- 
 ness was inside the stranger's room, and the door closed 
 behind her. 
 
 He certainly was more alert, for his eyes met hers 
 instantly. His look was almost one of fear, and she was 
 trembling visibly. 
 
 "I had to come," she said, nervously, in a half whisper, 
 "I heard the letters read, and I have to tell you some- 
 thing I've thought all night all day and I have to tell 
 you. Do you understand? Try to understand. Nod 
 your head if you do. Do you ?" 
 
 Her speech was rapid and impatient, while she 
 listened each moment lest a step sound on the stairs again. 
 But in all her eagerness to hear she never looked away 
 from his face, and she uttered a low exclamation of glad- 
 ness when the man's head bent slowly in assent. 
 
 "Oh, I am so glad so glad! You will get well; you 
 must! Listen! I know you now, and why you looked 
 at me so. You think you saw me up at Revelstoke I 
 think I remember your face there and you don't trust 
 me. You are looking for that man the man that took 
 fier away from you. You think I could find a trail to 
 him; but you are wrong. He is dead, and I know she is 
 
'TANA AND JOE 
 
 I know! Your name was the last word she said 
 'Joe.' She wanted you to forgive her, and not cross 
 his path. You don't believe me, perhaps; but it is all 
 true. I went to the camp with with the boy she wrote 
 of. She talked of you to me. I had word to give you 
 if we ever met. But how was I to know that Jim Harris 
 was the man -the same man? Do you hear do you 
 believe me?" 
 
 Those burning eyes eyes in which all of life in him 
 seemed concentrated looked out on her from the pale, 
 strange face; looked on her until her own cheeks grew 
 colorless, for there was something awful in the search- 
 ing regard of the man who was but half alive. 
 
 "Seel" she said, and slipped from her belt a package 
 in which paper rustled, "I've had that plan of the gold 
 find ever since since she died. She gave it to me, in* 
 case you should be as you are, and no one to look 
 after it for you. Or, if you should go under, she said, I 
 was to look it up. And I started to look it up yes, I did ; 
 but things were against me, and I let it go for a while. 
 But now, listen ! If you get well, it means money must do 
 it. See ? Dan hasn't very much not enough to float you 
 long. Now, I've thought it all out. You give up the no- 
 tion of looking for that man, who wasn't worth a shot of 
 powder when he was alive, and worth less now. It's that 
 notion that's been eating the life out of you. Oh, I've 
 thought it all out! Now you just turn honest pros- 
 pector, like you was when that man Ingalls first spotted 
 you. I'm only a girl, but I'll try to help make amends 
 for the wrongs he did you. I'll go partners with you. 
 Look ! here is the plan ; and I'm almost sure I know 
 where the two little streams meet. I've thought of it 
 a heap; but the face of of that dead girl, kept me 
 
146 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 from doing anything till I had either found you or knew 
 you were dead. No one knows I have the plan though 
 he would have cut throats for it. Now do you trust 
 me?" 
 
 She held the plan up so he could see it a queer 
 puzzle of lines and dots; but a glance sufficed, and he 
 turned his eyes again to the face of the girl. Her 
 eagerness, her intensity, awakened him to trust and 
 sympathy. He looked at her and nodded his head. 
 
 "Oh, I knew you would!" she breathed, thankfully. 
 "And I'll stand by you you'll see! I've wanted a 
 chance like this a chance to make up for some of the 
 devilment he's done to folks and some he's made me 
 help at. You know who I am, but none of the rest do 
 and they sha'n't. I'm a new girl now. I want to 
 make up for some of the badness that has been. It's 
 all over; but sometimes I hate the blood in my veins 
 because you know! And if I can only do some 
 good" " 
 
 She paused, for the eyes of the paralyzed man had 
 moved from her face, and were resting on something 
 back of her. 
 
 It was Overton ! He entered and closed the door, and 
 stood looking doubtful and astonished, while 'Tana, rose 
 to her feet trembling and a little pale. 
 
 "How long were you there?" she demanded, angrily. 
 
 He looked at her very steadily before making reply 
 such a curious, searching look that she moved uneasily 
 because of it; but her face remained defiant. 
 
 "I just now opened the door," he said at last, speak- 
 ing in a slow, deliberate way. "I slipped here as quietly 
 as I could, because they told me you were asleep, and I 
 must not make a noise. I got here just as you were 
 
TANA AND JOE 147 
 
 telling this man that no one but him should know who 
 you were before you came among us that is all, I 
 guess." 
 
 She had sat down on a seat close to Harris, and 
 dropped her face in her hands. 
 
 Overton stood with his back against the door, look- 
 ing down at her. In his eyes was a keen sorrow as she 
 sat down in that despairing fashion, and crept close to 
 the stranger as though for refuge from him. 
 
 "I might have avoided telling what I heard," he con- 
 tinued; "but I don't think that would be quite square 
 among friends. Then, as I see you have found a new 
 acquaintance here, I thought maybe you would have 
 something to tell me if you knew what I heard you say 
 to him." 
 
 But, kindly as his words were, she seemed to shrink 
 from them. 
 
 "No; I can't. Oh, Mr. Dan, I can't I can't," she 
 muttered, with her head still bowed on the arm of the 
 chair occupied by Harris. "If you can't trust me any 
 more, I can't blame you. But I can't tell you that's 
 all." 
 
 "Then I'll just go down stairs again," he decided, 
 "and you can finish your talk with Harris. I'll keep 
 the rest of the folks from interrupting you as I did. But 
 if you want me, little girl, you know I'll not be far 
 away." 
 
 The tears came in her eyes. His persistent kindness 
 to her made her both ashamed and glad, and she reached 
 out her hand. 
 
 "Wait," she said, "maybe I have something to tell 
 you," and she unfolded the paper again and showed it 
 to Harris. 
 
148 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "Shall I tell him? Would you rather he would be 
 the man to do the business?" she asked. "You know 
 I'm willing, but I don't know enough myself. Do you 
 want him to be the man ?" 
 
 Harris nodded his head. 
 
 With a look of relief on her face, she turned to Over- 
 ton, who watched them wonderingly. 
 
 "What sort of man is it you want? or what is it you 
 want to tell me?" 
 
 "Only that I've found a plan of the ground where 
 he made that rich find the letter told of," she answered, 
 with a bit of a tremble in her voice. "He's never been 
 able to look after it himself, and was afraid to trust 
 any one. But now " 
 
 "And you have the plan you, Tana?" 
 
 "Yes, I have it. I think I even know where the place 
 is located. But don't ask me anything about how I 
 got the plan. He knows, and is satisfied that is all." 
 
 "But, 'Tana, I don't understand. You are giving me 
 surprises too thick this evening. If he has found a rich 
 yield of ore, and has taken you into partnership, it 
 means that you will be a rich woman. A streak of pay 
 ore can do more for you than a ranger like myself; so 
 I guess you can afford to drop me." 
 
 Her face fell forward in her hands again. The man 
 in the chair looked at her and then turned his eyes plead- 
 ingly to the other man, who remained standing close 
 to the door. 
 
 Overton recognized the pleading quality of the glance, 
 and was filled with amazement by it. Witchery seemed 
 to have touched the stranger when paralysis touched 
 him, else he would not so quickly have changed from 
 his suspicion of the girl into that mute pleading for her. 
 
TANA AND JOE 
 
 She was trying so hard to keep back the tears, and in 
 the effort her jaws were set and her brows drawn to- 
 gether stormify. She looked to him as she had looked 
 in the lodge of Akkomi. 
 
 "You don't trust me," she said at last; "that's why 
 you won't help us. But you ought to, for I've never lied 
 to you. If it's because I'm in it that you won't have 
 anything to do with the mine, I'll leave. I won't bother 
 you about that school. I won't bother you about any- 
 thing. I'll help locate the place if if Joe here is will- 
 ing; and then you two can be partners, and I'll be out 
 of it, for I can trust you to take care of him, and see 
 that the money does what it can for him. I can trust 
 you if you can't me. So you are the one to speak up. 
 .What is your answer?" 
 
150 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PARTNERS. 
 
 "Well, I've been a 'hoodoo' all my, life; and if I only 
 lead some one into luck now good luck oh, wouldn't 
 I learn a sun-dance, and dance it!" 
 
 The world was two weeks older, and it was 'Tana 
 who spoke; not the troubled 'Tana who had crouched 
 beside the paralytic and cowered under her fear of Over- 
 ton's distrust, but a girl grown lighter-hearted by the 
 help of work to be done work in which she was for 
 once to stand side by side with Overton himself, for his 
 decision about the prospecting had been in her favor. 
 He had "spoken up," as she had asked him to do, and 
 a curious three-cornered partnership had been arranged 
 the next day; a very mysterious partnership, of which 
 no word was told to any one. Only 'Tana suddenly de- 
 cided that the schooling must wait a little longer. Lyster 
 would have to make the trip to Helena without her; 
 she was not feeling like it just then, and so forth. 
 
 Therefore, despite the very earnest arguments of Mr. 
 Lyster, he did have to go alone. During all the jour- 
 ney, he was conscious of a quite unreasonable disappoint- 
 ment, an impatience with even Overton, for not enforc- 
 ing his authority as guardian, and insisting that she at 
 once commence the many studies in which she was sadly 
 deficient. 
 
PARTNERS 151 
 
 But Overton had stood back and said nothing. Lyster 
 did not understand it, and could not succeed in mak- 
 ing either of them communicative. 
 
 "You'll be back here in less than a month," said Over- 
 ton. "We will send her then, if she feels equal to it. In 
 the meantime, we'll take the best care we can of her 
 here at the Ferry. I find I will have time to look after 
 her a little until then. I have only one short trip to make 
 up the river; so don't get uneasy about her. She'll be 
 ready to go next run you make, sure." 
 
 So Lyster wondered, dissatisfied, and went away. He 
 was even a little more dissatisfied with his last memory 
 of the girl a vision of her bending over that unknown, 
 helpless miner. His sympathies were with the man. He 
 was most willing to assist, in a financial way, toward 
 taking care of one so unfortunate. . But the thing he was 
 not willing to do was to see 'Tana devote herself with- 
 out restraint to the welfare of a stranger a man they 
 knew nothing of a fellow who, of course, could have 
 no appreciation of the great luck he was in to have her 
 constantly beside him. It was a clean waste of exception- 
 able sympathy ; and a squaw, or some miner out of work, 
 would do as well in this case. 
 
 He even offered to pay for a squaw, or for any mas- 
 culine nurse; but the girl had very promptly suggested 
 that he busy himself with his own duties, if he had any. 
 She stated further that he had no control whatever over 
 her actions, and she could not understand 
 
 "I know I have none," he retorted, with some impa- 
 tience, and yet a good deal of fondness in his handsome 
 eyes. "That is why I'm complaining. I wish I had. 
 And if I had, wouldn't I whisk you away from this 
 
152 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 uncouth life! I wonder if you will ever let me do so, 
 Tana?" 
 
 "I think you'd better be packing your plunder," she 
 remarked, coolly. "If you don't, you'll keep the whole 
 outfit waiting." 
 
 And that was how they let even Lyster go away. Not 
 a hint was he given of the all-engrossing plan that 
 bound both 'Tana and Overton to the interests of the 
 passive stranger, who looked at them with intelligence, 
 but who could not speak. 
 
 Their partnership was a curious affair, and the ar- 
 rangement for interests in it was conducted on the one 
 side by nods or shakes of the head, while the other 
 two offered suggestions, and asked questions, until a 
 very clear understanding was arrived at. 
 
 Only one knotty discussion had arisen. Overton of- 
 fered to give one month of time to the search, on con- 
 dition that one half of the find, if there was any made, 
 should belong to Tana, while the original finder should 
 have the other half. He himself would give that much 
 time to helping them out in a friendly way; but more 
 than that he could not give, because of other duties. 
 
 To this the man Harris shook his head with all pos- 
 sible vigor, while Tana was quite as emphatic in an 
 audible way. Harris desired that all shares be equal, 
 and Overton count himself in for a third. Tana ap- 
 proved the plan, insisting that she would not accept an 
 ounce of the dust if he did not. So Dan finally agreed 
 and ended the discussion concerning the division of the 
 gold they might never find. 
 
 "And don't be so dead sure that the dirt will pan 
 out well, even if we do find the place," he said, warn- 
 ingly, to Tana. "Why, my girl, if the average of dust 
 
PARTNERS 153 
 
 had been as high as my average of hope over strikes 
 I've made myself, I would have been a billionaire long 
 ago." 
 
 "I never heard you talk of prospecting," remarked 
 'Tana. "All the rest do here, and not you how is 
 that?" 
 
 "Oh, prospecting strikes one like a fever; sometimes 
 a man recovers from it, or seems to for a while. I had 
 the fever bad about two years ago out in Nevada, 
 Well, I left there. I sunk my stock of capital in a very 
 big hole, and lost my enthusiasm for a while. Maybe 
 I will find it again, drifting along the Kootenai ; but as 
 yet it has not struck me hard. From what I can gather, 
 this fellow must simply have dropped on a nugget or 
 little pocket, and something must have made him dis- 
 trust his partner to such an extent that he kept the secret 
 find to himself. So there evidently has been no testing 
 of the soil, no move toward development. We may 
 never find an ounce of metal, for such disappointments 
 have been even where very large nuggets have been 
 found. You must not expect too much of this search. 
 Golden hope lets you down hard when you do fall with 
 it." 
 
 But, despite his warnings, he made arrangements for 
 their river journey with all speed possible. The three 
 of them were to go; and, as chaperon, Mrs. Huzzard 
 was persuaded to join their queer "picnic" party, for 
 that was the idea given abroad concerning their little 
 trip to the north. It was to be a venture in the inter- 
 ests of Harris supposedly the physical interests ; though 
 Captain Leek did remark, with decided emphasis, that 
 it was the first time he ever knew of a man being sent 
 out to live in the woods as a cure for paralysis. 
 
154: THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 But the preparations were made; even the fact that 
 Mrs. Huzzard was seized with an unreasonable attack 
 of rheumatism on the eve of departure did not deter 
 them at all. 
 
 "Unless you need me to stay here and look after you, 
 we'll go just the same/' decided 'Tana. "A squaw 
 won't be much of a substitute for you; but she'll be bet- 
 ter than no one, and we'll go." 
 
 So the squaw was secured, through the agency of her 
 husband, whom Overton knew, and who was to take 
 their camp outfit up the river for them. This was one 
 reason why Mrs. Huzzard, as she watched them depart, 
 was a little thankful for the visitation of rheumatism. 
 
 Their camp was only a day old when 'Tana announced 
 her willingness to dance if only good fortune would 
 come to her. 
 
 It seemed a thing probable, for as Overton poured 
 water slowly from a tin pan into the shallow little 
 stream, there were left in the bottom of the pan, as the 
 last sifting bit of soil was washed out, some tiny bits 
 of yellow the size of a pin-head, and one as large as a 
 grain of wheat. 
 
 'Tana gave a little ecstatic cry as she bent over it and 
 touched the particles with her finger. 
 
 "Oh, Dan it is the gold! the real gold! and we are 
 millionaires ! millionaires, and you would not believe 
 it!" 
 
 He raised his finger warningly, and shook his head. 
 
 "Wait until we are millionaires before you commence 
 to shout," he advised. "It is a good show here yes; 
 but, after all, it may be only a chance washing from 
 hills far enough away. Show them to Harris, though; 
 
PARTNERS 155 
 
 he may be interested, though he appears to me very in- 
 different about the matter." 
 
 "He don't seem to care," she agreed. "He just looks 
 at us as though we were a couple of children he had 
 found a new plaything for. But don't you think he 
 looks brighter?" 
 
 "Well, yes; the river trip has done him good, instead 
 of the harm the Ferry folks prophesied. But you run 
 along and show him the 'yellow/ and don't draw the 
 squaw's attention to it." 
 
 The squaw was wrapped neck and heels in a blanket, 
 although the day was one of the warmest of summer; 
 and stretched asleep in the sun, she gave no heed to the 
 quick, light step of the girl. 
 
 Neither did Harris, at whose tent door she lay. He 
 must have thought it was the stoical, indifferent Indian, 
 for he gave her a quick, startled glance as he heard her 
 surprised "Oh!" at the door. Then she walked directly 
 to him, lifted his right hand, and let go again. It fell 
 on his knee in the old, helpless way. 
 
 "But you did raise it," she said, accusingly. "I saw 
 you as I came to the door. You stretched out your 
 hand." 
 
 He looked at her and nodded very slightly, then looked 
 at his hand and appeared trying to lift it ; but gave up, 
 and shook his head sadly. 
 
 "You mean you moved it a little once, but can't do 
 it again?" she asked, and he nodded assent. 
 
 "Oh, well, that's all right," she continued, cheerfully. 
 "You are sure to get along all right, now that you have 
 commenced to manage your hands if ever so little. But 
 just at first, when I saw you, I had a mighty queer notion 
 come into my head. I thought you were getting over 
 
156 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 that stroke faster than you let us know. But I'm too 
 suspicious, ain't I? Maybe it's a bad thing for folks to 
 trust strangers too much in this world; but it is just 
 as bad for a girl to grow up where she can't trust any 
 one. Don't you think so?" 
 
 The man nodded. They had many conversations like 
 that, and she had grown not to notice his lack of speech 
 nearly so much as at first. He was so good a listener, 
 and she had become so used to his face gradually gain- 
 ing again expressive power, that she divined his wishes 
 more readily than the others. 
 
 "But trusting don't cut any figure in what I came to 
 speak to you about," she continued. "No 'trust and 
 hope on, brethren,' about this, I guess," and she held 
 the grains of yellow metal before his eyes. "There it is 
 the gold ! Dan found it in the little hollow where the 
 spring is. Is that where you found it?" 
 
 He shook his head, but looked pleased at the show 
 they had found. 
 
 "Was it bigger bundles of it than this you struck?" 
 
 He nodded assent. 
 
 "Bigger than this! Well, it must have been rich. 
 These lumps are enough in size if they only turn out 
 enough in number. Oh, how I wish you had put the 
 very spot on that plan of the ground and the rivers! 
 Still, I suppose you were right to be cautious. And if 
 I hadn't been on a lone trail through this country last 
 spring, and got lost, and happened to notice the two 
 little streams running into the river so close to each 
 other, we might have had a year's journey along the 
 Kootenai before we could have found the particular little 
 stream and followed the right one to its source. I think 
 we are close on the trail now, Joe." 
 
PARTNERS 157 
 
 He shook his head energetically when she called him 
 Joe. 
 
 "Well, I forget," she said. "You see, I've been think- 
 ing for months about finding Joe Hammond; and now 
 that I've found you, I can't get used to thinking you are 
 Jim Harris. What's the use of your changing your 
 name, anyway? You did it so you could trail him, your 
 partner, better. But what was the use, with him well 
 and strong, and with devils back of him, and you alone 
 and barely able to crawl ? Your head was wrong, Joe 
 Jim, I mean. If you hadn't been looney, you'd just have 
 settled down and worked your claim, got rich, and then 
 looked for your man." 
 
 He shook his head impatiently, and looked at her with 
 as much of a frown as his locked muscles would allow, 
 and a very queer, hard smile about his eyes and mouth. 
 
 "Ah!" and 'Tana shivered a little; "don't look like 
 that, Joe. You wouldn't get any Sunday-school prizes 
 for a meek and lowly spirit if the manager saw you 
 fix your face in that fashion. I guess I know how you 
 felt. If you had just so much strength, and couldn't 
 hope for more, you wouldn't waste it looking for gold 
 while he was above ground. Now, ain't I about right?" 
 
 He gave no assent, but smiled in a more kindly way 
 at the shrewdness of her guess. 
 
 "You won't own up, but I know I am right," she 
 said; "and the way I know it is because I think I'd feel 
 just like that myself if some one hurt me bad. I wonder 
 if girls often feel that way. I guess not. I know Ora 
 Harrison, the doctor's girl, don't. She says her prayers 
 every night, and asks God to let her enemies have good 
 luck. U'm ! I can't do that." 
 11 
 
158 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 The man watched her as she sat silent for a little, 
 looking out into the still, warm sunshine. The squaw 
 slumbered on, and the girl stared across her, and her 
 face grew sad and moody with some hard thought. 
 
 "It's awful to hate," she said, at last. "Don't you 
 think it is? to hate so that you can't breathe right 
 when the person you hate comes near where you are 
 to be able to feel if he comes near, even when you don't 
 see or hear him, to feel a devil that rises up in your 
 breast and makes you want to get a knife and cut cut 
 deep, until the blood you hate runs away from the face 
 you hate, and leaves it white and cold. Ah! it's bad, I 
 reckon, to have some one hate you; but it's a thousand 
 times worse to hate back. It makes the prettiest day 
 black when the devil tells you of the hate you must 
 remember, and you can't pray it away, and you can't 
 forget it, and you can't help it! Oh, dear!" 
 
 She put her hands over her eyes and leaned her head 
 against his hand. He felt her tears, but could not com- 
 fort her. 
 
 "You see, I know how you felt," she ,said, trying to 
 speak steadily. "Girls shouldn't know ; girls should have 
 love and good thoughts taught to them. I I've dreamed 
 dreams of what a girl's life ought to be like ; something 
 like Ora's home, where her mother kisses her and loves 
 her, and her father kisses and loves them both. I went 
 to their home once, and I never could go again. I was 
 starving for the kind of home she has, and I knew I 
 never would get it. That is the hardest part of it to 
 know, no matter how hard you try to be good, all your 
 life, you can't get back the good thoughts and the love 
 that should have been yours when you were little the 
 good thoughts that would have kept hate from growing 
 
PARTNERS 159 
 
 in your heart, until it is stronger than you are. Oh, it's 
 awful !" 
 
 The squaw, who did not understand English, but did 
 understand tears, rolled over and peered out from her 
 blanket at the girl who knelt there as at the feet of a 
 confessor. But the girl did not see her; she still knelt 
 there, almost whispering now. 
 
 "And the worst of it is, Joe, after they are dead the 
 ones you hate then the devil in you commences to tor- 
 ment you by making you think of some good points 
 among the bad ones; some little kind word that would 
 have made the hate in your heart less if it had not been 
 for your own terrible wickedness. And it gnaws and 
 torments you just like a rat gnawing the heart out of 
 a log for a nest. And hate is terrible ! whether it is live 
 hate, or dead, it is terrible. Maybe I won't feel so bad 
 now that I've said out loud to some one how I feel 
 how much harder my heart is than it ought to be. I 
 couldn't tell any one else. But you hate, too, you know. 
 Maybe you know, too, that dead hate hurts worst that 
 it haunts like a ghost." 
 
 She looked up at him, and saw again that queer, wise 
 smile about his lips. 
 
 "You don't believe he's dead!" she said, and her face 
 grew paler. "You think he's still alive, and that is why 
 you don't want folks to use your old name. You are 
 laying for him yet, and you so helpless you can't move !" 
 
 The man only looked at her grimly. He would not 
 deny; he would not assent. 
 
 "But you are wrong," she persisted. "He is dead. 
 The Indians told me so Akkomi told me so. Would 
 they lie to me? Joe, can't you let the hate go by, now 
 that he is dead dtad?" 
 
160 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 But no motion answered her, though his eyes rested 
 on her kindly enough. Then the squaw arose and 
 slouched away to pick up firewood in the forest, and 
 he girl arose, too, and touched his hand. 
 
 "Well, whether you can or not, I am glad I told you 
 what I did. Maybe it won't worry me so much now; 
 for sometimes, just when I'm almost happy, the ghost 
 of that bad hate seems to whisper, whisper, and there 
 ain't any more good times for me. I'm glad I told you. 
 I would not have, though, if you could talk like other 
 folks, but you can't." 
 
 She got him a drink of water, slipped their first find 
 of the gold into his pocket, and then stood at the tent 
 door, watching for Overton. 
 
 But he did not come, and after a little she picked up 
 the pan again and started for the small stream where 
 she had left him. 
 
 The man in the chair watched her go, and when she 
 was out of sight, that right hand was again slowly raised 
 from the chair. 
 
 "C an't I ?" he whispered, in a strange, indistinct way. 
 "Poor littie girl! poor little girl !" 
 
THE TRACK IN THE FOREST 161 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE TRACK IN THE FOREST. 
 
 Their camp was about a mile from the Kootenai River, 
 and close to a stream of depth sufficient to carry a 
 canoe; while, a little way north of their camp, a beauti- 
 ful spring of clear water gurgled out from under a little 
 bank, and added its portion to the larger stream that 
 flowed eastward to the river. 
 
 There was a little peculiarity about the spring, which 
 made it one to remember or, rather, two to remember, 
 for it was really a twin, and its sister stream slipped 
 from the other side of the narrow ledge and ran north 
 for a little way, and then turned to the east and emptied 
 into the Kootenai, not a hundred yards from the stream 
 into which its mate had run. 
 
 The two springs were not twenty feet apart, and lay 
 direct north and south from each other. Then their 
 wide curves, in opposite directions, left within their 
 circle a tract of land like an island, for the streams 
 bounded it entirely except for that narrow neck of rock 
 and soil joining it to the bigger hills to the west. 
 
 It was in the vicinity of the two springs that the rude 
 sketch of Harris bade them search; but more definite 
 directions than that he had not given. He had marked 
 a tree where the north stream joined the river; and find- 
 ing that as a clew, they followed the stream to its 
 source. When they reached the larger stream, navigable 
 
162 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 for a mile, they concluded to move their tents there, for 
 no lovelier place could be found. 
 
 It was 'Tana and Overton who tramped over the lands 
 where the streams lay, and did their own prospecting 
 for location. He was surprised to find her knowledge of 
 the land so accurate. The crude drawing was as a 
 solved problem to her; she never once made a wrong 
 turn. 
 
 "Well, I've thought over it a heap," she said, when 
 he commented on her clever ideas. "I saw that marked 
 tree as we went down to the Ferry, and I remembered 
 where it was ; and the trail is not hard if you only get 
 started on it right. It's getting started right that counts 
 ain't it, Dan?" 
 
 There seemed fewer barriers between them in the 
 free, out-of-door life, where no third person's views col- 
 ored their own. They talked of Lyster, and missed him ; 
 yet Dan was conscious that if Lyster were with them, 
 he would have come second instead of first in her confi- 
 dences, and her friendly, appealing ways. 
 
 Whether he trusted her or not, she did not know. He 
 had not asked a question as to how that survey of the 
 land came to her; but he watched Harris sometimes 
 when the girl paid him any little attention, and he could 
 read only absolute trust in the man's eyes. 
 
 Overton was not given to keen analysis of people or 
 motives; a healthy unconcern pervaded his mind as to 
 the affairs of most people. But sometimes the girl's 
 character, her peculiar knowledge, her mysterious past, 
 touched him with a sense of strange confusion, yet in the 
 midst of the confusion the deepest of it he had put 
 all else aside when she appealed to him, and had fol- 
 lowed her lead into the wilderness. 
 
THE TRACK IN THE FOREST 1G3 
 
 And as she ran from him with the particles of gold, 
 and carried them, as he bade her, to Harris, he followed 
 her with his gaze until she disappeared through the 
 green wall of the bushes. Once he started to follow her, 
 and then stopped, suddenly muttered something about a 
 "cursed fool," and flung himself face down in the tall 
 grass. 
 
 "It's got to end here," he said, aloud, as men grow 
 used to thinking when they live alone in the woods 
 much. Then he raised himself on his elbows and looked 
 over the little grassy dip of the land to where the stream 
 from the hills sparkled in the warm sun; and then 
 away beyond to where the evergreens raised their dark 
 heads along the heights, looking like somber guardians 
 keeping ward over the sunny valley of the twin springs. 
 Over them all his gaze wandered, and then up into 
 the deep forest above him a forest unbroken from 
 there to the swift Columbia. 
 
 The perfect harmony of it all must have op-pressed 
 him until he felt himself the one discordant note, for 
 he closed his eyes with a sigh that was almost a groan. 
 
 "I'll see it all again often, I suppose," he muttered; 
 "but never quite as it is now never, for it's got to end. 
 The little bits of gold I found are a warning of the 
 changes to come here that is the way it seems to me. 
 Queer how a man will change his idea of life in a year 
 or so! There have been times when I would have re- 
 joiced over the prospect of wealth there is here; yet all 
 I am actually conscious of is regret that everything 
 must change the place the people all where gold is 
 king. Pshaw ! what a fool I would seem to any one else 
 if he knew. Yet well, I have dreamed all my days of 
 a sort of life where absolute happiness could be lived. 
 
164: THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 Other men do the same, I suppose yes, of course. I 
 wonder if others also come in reach of it too late. I sup- 
 pose so. Well, reasoning won't change it. I marked 
 out my own path marked it out with as little thought as 
 many another fool; but I've got to walk in it just the 
 same, and cursing back don't help luck. But I had to 
 have a little powwow all alone and be sorry for myself, 
 before turning my back on the man I'd like to be and 
 the rest of my dreams that have come in sight for a little 
 while but can never come nearer There she comes 
 again! I'm glad of it, for she will at least keep me 
 from drifting into dreams alone." 
 
 But she appeared to be dreaming a little herself. At 
 any rate, the scene she had passed through in the tent 
 left memories too dark with feeling to be quickly dis- 
 pelled, and he noticed at once the change in her face, 
 and the traces of tears left about her eyes. 
 
 "What has hurt you?" he asked. 
 
 She shook her head and said: 
 
 "Nothing." 
 
 "Oh ! So you leave here jolly enough, and run around 
 to camp, and cry about nothing do you?" he asked, 
 with evident unbelief. "Were you crying for joy over 
 those little grains of gold or over your loneliness in 
 being so far from the Ferry folks?" 
 
 She laughed at the mere idea of either and laughter 
 dispels tear traces so quickly from faces that are young. 
 "Lonely!" she exclaimed: "lonely here? why, I feel a 
 heap more satisfied here than down at the Ferry, where 
 the whole place smelled like saw-mills and new lumber. 
 I always had a grudge against saw-mills, for they spoil 
 all the lovely woods. That is why I like all this," and 
 she made a sweep of her arm, embracing all the terri- 
 
THE TRACK IN THE FOREST 165 
 
 tory in sight; "for in here not a tree has been touched 
 with an ax. Lonely here ! Why, Dan, I've been so per- 
 fectly happy that I'm afraid yes, I am. Didn't you 
 ever feel like that just as if you were too happy to last, 
 and you were afraid some trouble would come and end 
 it all?" 
 
 But Overton stooped to lift the pick he had been using, 
 and so turned his face away from her. 
 
 "Well, I'm glad you are not getting blue over lack 
 of company," he remarked; "for we have only com- 
 menced prospecting, you know, and it will be at least 
 a week before we can hope to send for any one else to 
 join us." 
 
 "A week! Do you intend to send for other folks, 
 then?" and her tone was one of regret. "Oh, it would 
 be all different, then. My pretty camp would be spoiled 
 for me if folks should come talking and whistling up 
 our creek. Don't let any one know so soon !" 
 
 "You don't know what you are talking of," he an- 
 swered, a little roughly. "This is a business trip. We did 
 not come up here just because we were looking for a 
 pretty picture of a place to camp in." 
 
 "Oh!" and surprise and dismay were in the exclama- 
 tion. "Then you don't care for it you want other peo- 
 ple just as soon as you find the rich streak where the gold 
 is ? Well" and she looked again over their little chosen 
 valley "I almost hope you won't find it very soon not 
 for several days. I would like to live just like this for 
 a whole week. And I thought I was so sure you liked 
 it, too." 
 
 "Oh, yes," he answered, indifferently enough, evi- 
 dently giving his whole attention to examining the soil 
 he had commenced to dig up again, "I like the camp all 
 
166 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 right, but we can't just stand around and admire it, if 
 we want to accomplish what we came for. And see here, 
 'Tana," he said, and for the first time he looked at her 
 with a sort of unwillingness, "you must know that this 
 gold is going to make a big change in things for you. 
 You can't live out in the woods with a couple of miners 
 and an Indian squaw, after your fortune is made don't 
 you see that ? You must go to school, and live out in the 
 world where your money will help you to well, the 
 right sort of society for a girl." 
 
 "What is the use of having money if it don't help you 
 to live where you please?" she demanded. "I thought 
 that was what money was for. I'd a heap rather stay 
 poor here in the woods, with with the folks I know, 
 instead of going where I'll have to buy friends with 
 money. Don't think I'd want the sort of friends who 
 have to be baited with money, anyway." 
 
 He stared at her helplessly. She was saying to him the 
 things he had called himself a fool for thinking. But he 
 could not call her a fool. He could only stifle an impatient 
 groan, and wonder how he was to reason her into think- 
 ing as other girls would think of wealth and its advan- 
 tages. 
 
 "Why were you so wild about finding the gold, if you 
 care so little for the things it brings ?" he demanded, and 
 she pointed toward the tents. 
 
 "It was for him I thought at first of how the money 
 would, maybe, help to make him well get him great 
 doctors, and all that. The world had been rough on him 
 people had brought him trouble, and and I thought, 
 maybe, I could help clear it away. That was what I had 
 in my mind at first." 
 
THE TRACK IN THE FOREST 167 
 
 "You need things, too, don't you? not doctors, but 
 education books, beautiful things. You want pictures, 
 statues, fine music, theaters all such things. Well, the 
 money will help you get them, and get people to enjoy 
 them with you. I've heard you talk to Max about how 
 you would like to live, and what you would like to see; 
 and I think you can soon. But, 'Tana, you will live 
 then where people will be more critical than we are 
 here" 
 
 "More like Captain Leek?" she asked, with a deep 
 wrinkle between her brows; "for if they are, I'll stay 
 here." 
 
 "N no; not like him; and yet they will think con- 
 siderable of his sort of ideas, too," he answered, blun- 
 deringly. "One thing sure is this : When your actual 
 work here is over, you must go at once back to Mrs. Huz- 
 zard. It was necessary for you to come, else I wouldn't 
 have allowed it. But, little girl, when you get among 
 those fine friends you are going to have, I don't want 
 them to think you had a guardian up here who didn't 
 take the first bit of civilized care of you. And that's 
 what they would think if I let you stay here, just as 
 though you were a boy. So you see, 'Tana, I just felt 
 I'd have to tell you plain that you would have to try and 
 fit yourself to city ways of living. And when you are a 
 millionairess, as you count on being, we three partners 
 can't keep on living in tents in the Kootenai woods." 
 
 She pulled handfuls of the plumy grasses beside her, 
 and stared sulkily ahead of her. Evidently it was a 
 great deal for her to understand at once. 
 
 "Would they blame you you for it, if they knew?" 
 she asked at last. 
 
168 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "Yes, they would if they knew," he said, savagely; 
 and turning away, he walked across the little grassy 
 level to where the abrupt little wall or ledge commenced 
 the one from under which the springs flowed. 
 
 She thought he was simply out of patience with her. 
 He was going to the woods anywhere to be rid of her 
 and her stupid ideas ; and swift as a bird, she slipped after 
 him. 
 
 "Then I'll go, Dan," she said reassuringly, catching 
 his arm. "So don't be vexed at me for being stubborn. 
 Come! let me look for the gold with you, and then 
 then I'll go when you say." 
 
 "It's a bargain," he said, briefly, and drew his arm 
 away. "And if we are going to do any more prospecting 
 this evening, we had better begin." 
 
 He stood facing her, with his back to the bank that 
 was the first tiny step toward the mountain that rose 
 dark and shadowy far above. He had walked along 
 there before, looking with a miner's attention to the 
 lay of the land. Suddenly he uttered an exclamation, 
 and a light of comprehension brightened his eyes. 
 
 "I've got a clew to it, sure, 'Tana!" he said, eagerly. 
 "Do you know where we are standing? Well, if I don't 
 make a big mistake, a good-sized river once rolled along 
 just where we are now. The little creek is all that's 
 left of it. This soil is all a comparatively recent deposit, 
 and it and the gold dust in it have been washed down 
 from the mountain. Which means that this little valley 
 is only a gateway, and the dust we found is only a trail 
 we are to follow up to the mine from which it came. Do 
 you understand?" 
 
 "Yes, I think so," she answered, looking at the green- 
 covered banks, and trying to realize how they looked 
 
THE TRACK IN THE FOREST 169 
 
 when a mountain river had cut its way through and 
 covered all the pretty level where the spring stream 
 slipped now. "But doesn't that make the gold seem 
 farther away much farther? Will we have to move up 
 higher in the mountains?" 
 
 "That is a question I need time to answer, but if I 
 am right if there is a backing of gold ore somewhere 
 above this old river bed, it means a much surer thing 
 than an occasional bit of dust washed out of the mud 
 here. But we won't ignore our little placer digging* 
 either. There is an advantage to a poor prospector in 
 having a claim he can work without any machinery but 
 a pick, shovel, and pan ; while the gold ore needs a for- 
 tune to develop it. Let us go back and talk to Harris, 
 to see if his evidence substantiates my theory. If not, 
 we will just stake out our claims on the level, and be 
 thankful. Later we will investigate the hills." 
 
 The girl walked slowly beside him back to their camp. 
 The shadows were commencing to lengthen. It was 
 nearing supper time, and their day had been a busy, tiring 
 one, for they had moved their camp many miles since 
 dawn. 
 
 "You are very nearly worn out, aren't you ?" he asked, 
 as he noticed her tired eyes and her listless step. "You 
 see, you would tramp along the shore this morning 
 when I wanted you to stay in the boat." 
 
 "Yes, I know," she answered ; "but I don't think that 
 made me tired. Maybe it's the gold we are to find. 
 How queer it is, Dan, that a person will wai:t and want 
 some one thing all his life, and he thinks it will make him 
 so happy ; and yet, when at last he gets in sight of it, he 
 isn't happy at all. That is the way I feel about our gold. 
 I suppose I ought to be singing and laughing and danc- 
 
170 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 ing for joy. I said I would, too. Yet here I am feeling 
 as stupid as can be, and almost afraid of the fine life you 
 say I must go to. Oh, bother! I won't think over it 
 any more. I am going to get supper." 
 
 For while 'Tana would accept the squaw as an as- 
 sistant and a gatherer of fuel, she decidedly declined to 
 have her installed as head cook She herself filled that 
 office with a good deal of girlish conceit, encouraged by 
 the praise of Overton and the approving nods of Harris. 
 
 There had been a fifth member of their party, Flap- 
 Jack's husband. 'Tana had bestowed that name on the 
 squaw in the very beginning of their acquaintance. But 
 Overton had sent him on an errand back to Sinna Ferry, 
 not wishing to have his watchful eyes prying into their 
 plans in the very beginning of their prospecting. And 
 it was not until he had started on his journey that the 
 pick and pan had disclosed the golden secret of the old 
 river bed. 
 
 Harris watched the two approach, and his keen gray 
 eyes turned with a certain fondness from one to the other. 
 They were as guardian angels to him, and their mutual 
 care of him had brought them closer to each other there 
 in the wilderness than they ever had been in the little 
 settlement farther down the river. 
 
 "Squaw not here yet?" asked 'Tana, and at once set 
 to work preparing things for the supper. 
 
 Harris shook his head, but at that moment their hand- 
 maiden did return, carrying a great load of sticks for 
 fire, and then brought to the girl a number of fine trout 
 she had caught almost at their door. She built the fire 
 outside, where two forked sticks had been driven into 
 the ground, and across them a pole lay, from which 
 kettles could be hung. As Tana set the coffee pot on 
 
THE TRACK IN THE FOREST 171 
 
 the hot coals, the Indian woman spoke to her in that low 
 voice which is characteristic of the red people. 
 
 "More white men to come into camp?" she asked. 
 
 "White men? No. Why do you ask?" 
 
 "I see tracks not Dan's tracks not yours." 
 
 "Made when?" 
 
 "Now little while back only little." 
 
 Overton heard their voices, though not their words; 
 and as 'Tana re-entered the wigwam, he glanced around 
 at her with a dubious smile. 
 
 "That is the first time I ever heard you actually talk- 
 ing Chinook," he observed; "though I've had an idea 
 you could, ever since the evening in Akkomi's village. It 
 is like your poker playing, though you have been very 
 modest about it." 
 
 "I was not the night I played the captain," she 
 answered; "and I think you might let me alone about 
 that, after I gave him back his money." 
 
 "That is just the part I can not forgive you for," he 
 said. "He will never get over the idea, now, that you 
 cheated him, and that your conscience got the better of 
 you to such an extent that you tried to wipe a sin away 
 by giving the money back." 
 
 "Perhaps I did," she answered, quietly. "I had to 
 settle his conceit some way, for he did bother me a heap 
 sometimes. But I'm done with that." 
 
 She seemed rather thoughtful during the frying of the 
 fish and the slicing down of Mrs. Huzzard's last contri- 
 bution a brown loaf. 
 
 She was disturbed over the footprints seen by the 
 Indian woman the track of a white man so close to their 
 camp that day, yet who had kept himself from their 
 sight! Such actions have a meaning in the wild coun- 
 
172 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 tries, and the meaning troubled her. While it would 
 have been the most simple thing in the world to tell Over- 
 ton and have him make a search, something made her 
 want to do the searching herself but how? 
 
 "I was right in my theory about the old river bed," 
 he said to her, as she poured his coffee. "Harris backs 
 me up in it, and it was ore he found, and not the loose 
 dirt in the soil. So the thing I am going to strike out 
 for is the headquarters where that loose dust comes 
 from." 
 
 "Oh! then it was ore you found?" she asked. 
 
 Harris nodded his head. 
 
 "Ore on the surface and near here." 
 
 That news made her even more anxious about that 
 stranger who had prowled around. Perhaps he, too, 
 was searching for the hidden wealth. 
 
 When the supper was over, and the sun had slipped 
 back of the mountain, she beckoned to the squaw, and 
 with the water bucket as a visible errand, they started 
 toward the spring. 
 
 But they did not stop there. She wanted to see with 
 her own eyes those footprints, and she followed the 
 Indian down into the woods already growing dusky in 
 the dying day. 
 
 The birds were singing their good-night songs, and all 
 the land seemed steeped in repose. Only those two 
 figures, gliding between the trees, carried with them the 
 spirit of unrest. 
 
 They reached an open space where no trees grew 
 very close a bit of marsh land, where the soil was 
 black and tall ferns grew. The squaw led her straight 
 to a place where two of the fern fronds were bent and 
 broken. She parted the green lances, and there beside 
 
THE TRACK IN THE FOREST 173 
 
 it was a scraping away of the earth, as though some one 
 walking there had slipped, and in the black sandy loam 
 a shoe had sunk deep. The Indian was right; it was 
 the mark of a white man, for the reds of that country 
 had not yet adopted the footgear of their more advanced 
 neighbors. 
 
 "It turn to camp," said the squaw. "Maybe some 
 white thief, so I tell you. Me tell Dan?" 
 
 "Wait," answered the girl; and, kneeling down, she 
 studied the slender outline of the foot attentively. "Any 
 more tracks?" 
 
 "No more only leaves stirred nearer to camp; he go 
 that way." 
 
 The full moon rose clear and warm in the east, while 
 yet the sun's light lingered over the wilderness. Beau- 
 tiful flowers shone white and pink and yellow in the 
 opaline light of the evening; and 'Tana mechanically 
 plucked a few that touched her as she passed, but she 
 gave little notice to their beauty. All her thought was 
 on the slender footprint of the man in the woods, and 
 her face looked troubled. 
 
 They walked on, looking to right and left in any nook 
 where deep shadows lay, but never a sign could they see 
 of aught that was human besides themselves, until they 
 neared the springs again, when the squaw laid her hand 
 on the arm of the girl. 
 
 "Dan," she said, in her low, abrupt way. 
 
 The girl, looking up, saw him a little way ahead of 
 them, standing there straight, strong, and surely to be 
 trusted; yet her first impulse was to tell him nothing. 
 
 "Take the water and go," she said to the Indian, and 
 the woman disappeared like a mere wraith of a woman 
 in the pale shadows. 
 12 
 
174 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "Don't go so far next time when you want to pick 
 flowers in the evening," said Overton, as 'Tana came 
 nearer to him. "You make me realize that I have nerves. 
 If you had not come in sight the instant you did, I should 
 have been after you." 
 
 "But nothing will harm us ; I am not afraid, and it is 
 pretty in the woods now," she answered lamely, and 
 toyed with the flowers. But the touch of her fingers was 
 nervous, and the same quality trembled in her voice. He 
 noticed it and reaching out took her hand in his very 
 gently, and yet with decision that forced her to look up at 
 him. 
 
 "Little girl what is it? You are sick?" 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 "No, I am not I am not sick," and she tried to free 
 her hand, but could not. 
 
 ' Tana," and his teeth closed for a moment on his lip 
 lest he say all the warm words that leaped up from 
 his heart at sight of her face, which looked startled and 
 pale in the moonlight " 'Tana, you won't need me very 
 long; and when you go away, I'll never try to make you 
 remember me. Do you understand, little girl? But 
 just now, while we are so far off from the rest of the 
 world, won't you trust me with your troubles with the 
 thoughts that worry you? I would give half of my life 
 to help you. Half of it! Ah, good God! all of it! 
 Tana" 
 
 In his voice was all the feeling which compels sym- 
 pathy, or else builds up a wall that bars it out. But in 
 the eyes of the girl, startled though she was, no resistance 
 could be read. Her hand was in his, her face lifted to 
 him, and alight with sudden gladness. In his eyes she 
 
THE TRACK IN THE FOREST 175 
 
 read the force of an irresistible power taking possession 
 of a man's ?oul and touching her with its glory. 
 
 " 'Tana !" he said very softly, in a tone she had never 
 before heard Dan Overton use a tone hushed and rev- 
 erent and appealing. "Tana!" 
 
 Did he guess all the stormy emotions locked alone in the 
 girl's heart, and wearing out her strength ? Did he guess 
 all the childish longing to feel strong, loving arms 
 around her as a shield? His utterance of her name 
 drew her to him. His arm fell around her shoulders, 
 and her head was bowed against his breast. The hat 
 she wore had fallen to the ground, and as he bent over 
 her, his hand caressed her hair tenderly, but there was 
 more of moody regret than of joy in his face. 
 
 Tana, my girl ! poor little girl !" he said softly. 
 
 But she shook her head. 
 
 "No not so poor now," she half whispered and looked 
 up at him "not so very poor." 
 
 Then she uttered a half -strangled scream of terror 
 and broke away from him; for across his shoulder she 
 saw a face peering at her from the shadows of the over- 
 hanging bushes above them, a white, desperate face, at 
 sight of which she staggered back and would have 
 fallen had Overton not caught her. 
 
 He had not seen the cause of her alarm, and for one 
 instant thought it was himself from whom she shrank. 
 
 "Tell me what is it?" he demanded. "'Tana, speak 
 to me !" 
 
 She did not speak, but a rustle in the bushes above 
 them caught his ear ; and looking up, he saw a form pass 
 lightly through the shadows and away from them. He 
 could not tell whether it was an Indian, a white man, 
 or even an animal scampering off that way through the 
 
176 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 bushes. But anything that spied like that and ran when 
 discovered was a thing te shoot at. He dropped his 
 hand to his revolver, but she caught his arm. 
 
 "No, Dan ! Oh, don't don't shoot him !" 
 
 He stared at her, conscious that it was no ordinary 
 fear that whitened her face. What did it mean? She 
 herself had just come from the woods pale, agitated, 
 and with only a semblance of flower gathering to explain 
 her absence. Had she met some one there some one 
 who 
 
 He let go of her and started to run up the side of the 
 steep bank ; but swiftly as he moved, she caught him and 
 clung to him, half sobbing. 
 
 "Don't go ! Oh, Dan, let him go I" she begged, and her 
 grasp made it impossible for him to go unless he picked 
 her up and carried her along. 
 
 He stooped, took her head roughly in his hands, and 
 turned her face up, so that the light would fall upon it. 
 
 "Him! Then you know who it is?" he said, grimly. 
 "What sort of business is this, 'Tana? Are you going 
 to tell me?" 
 
 But she only crouched closer to him, and, sobbing, 
 begged him not to go. Once he tried to break away 
 but lost his footing, and the soil and bits of boulders 
 went clattering down past her. 
 
 With a muttered oath of impatience, he gave up the 
 pursuit, and stared down at her with an expression more 
 bitter than any she had ever seen on his face before. 
 
 "So you are bound to protect him, are you?" he asked, 
 coldly. "Very well. But if you value him so highly you 
 had better keep him clear of this camp, else he'll find 
 himself ready for a box. Come! get up and go to the 
 tents. That is a better place for you than here. Your 
 
THE TRACK IN THE FOREST 177 
 
 coming out here this evening has been a mistake all 
 around or else mine has. I wish to Heaven I could 
 undo it all." 
 
 She stood a little apart from him, but her hand was 
 still outstretched and clasping his arm. 
 
 "All, Dan ?" she asked, and her mouth trembled. But 
 his own lips were firm enough, as he nodded his head 
 and looked at her. 
 
 "All," he said briefly. "Go now; and here are your 
 flowers for which you hunted so long in the woods." 
 
 He stooped to pick them up for her from where they 
 had fallen the white, fragrant things he had thought so 
 beautiful as she came toward him with them in the 
 moonlight. 
 
 But as he lifted them from the bank, where they were 
 scattered, he saw something else there which was nei- 
 ther beautiful nor fragrant, but over which he bent with 
 earnest scrutiny. An ordinary looking piece of shale or 
 stone it would have seemed to an inexperienced eye, 
 a thing with irregular veins of a greenish appearance, 
 and the green dotted plainly with yellow so plainly 
 as to show even in the moonlight the nature of the find. 
 
 He turned to the girl and reached it to her with the 
 flowers. 
 
 "There ! When my foot slipped I broke off that bit 
 of 'float' from the ledge," he said curtly. "Show it to 
 Harris. We have found the gold ore, and I'll stake out 
 the claims to-night. You can afford to leave for civ- 
 ilization now as soon as you please, I reckon, for your 
 work in the Kootenai country is over. Your fortune 
 is made." 
 
ITS THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 NEW-COMERS. 
 
 Many days went by after that before more time was 
 given to the hunting of gold in that particular valley of 
 the Kootenai lands; for before another day broke, the 
 squaw spoke at the door of Overton's tent and told him 
 the girl was sick with fever, that she talked as a little 
 child babbles and laughs at nothing. 
 
 He went with her, and the face he had seen so pale 
 in the moonlight was flushed a rosy red, and her arms 
 tossed meaninglessly, while she muttered muttered ! 
 Sometimes her words were of the gold, and of flowers. 
 He even heard his name on her lips, but only once; and 
 then she cried out that he hurt her. She was ill very 
 ill ; he could see that, and help must be had. 
 
 He went for it as swiftly as a boat could be sped over 
 the water. During the very short season of waiting for 
 the doctor and Mrs. Huzzard, he wrote to Lyster, and 
 secured some Indians for work needed. If the doctor 
 thought her able for the journey, he meant to have her 
 brought back in a boat to Sinna Ferry, where she would 
 have something more substantial than canvas walls about 
 her. 
 
 But the doctor did not. He was rather mystified by 
 her sudden illness, as there had been no forewarnings 
 of it. That it was caused by some shock was possible ; 
 and that it was serious was beyond doubt. 
 
NEW-COMERS 179 
 
 The entire party, and especially Mrs. Huzzard, were 
 taken aback by rinding a newly arrived, self-imposed 
 guardian at the door of 'Tana's tent. It was the blanket- 
 draped figure of old Akkomi, and his gaily painted canoe 
 was pulled up on the bank of the creek. 
 
 "I heard on the wind the child was sick," he said 
 briefly to Overton. "I come to ask if you needed help." 
 
 But Overton looked at him suspiciously. It was im- 
 possible that he could have heard of her illness so soon, 
 though he might have heard of her presence there. 
 
 "Were any of your people here at nightfall yester- 
 day?" he asked. The old fellow shook his head. 
 
 "No, none of my people," he said briefly; then he 
 puffed away at his pipe, and looked approvingly at Mrs. 
 Huzzard, who tried to pass him without turning her 
 back to him at all, and succeeded in making a circuit 
 bearing some relation to progress made before a throne, 
 though the relationship was rather strained. His ap- 
 proving eyes filled her with terror ; for, much as she had 
 reveled in Indian romances (on paper) in her youth, she 
 had no desire to take any active part in them in her mid- 
 dle age. 
 
 And so, with the help of the doctor and Mrs. Huzzard, 
 they commenced the nursing of 'Tana back to con- 
 sciousness and health. Night after night Dan walked 
 alone in the waning moonlight, his heart filled with re- 
 morse and blame for which he could find no relief. The 
 gathering of the gold had no longer allurements for him. 
 
 But he moved Harris' tent on to one of the claims, 
 and he cut small timber, and in a day and a half had a 
 little log house of two rooms put up and chinked with 
 dry moss and roofed with bark, that 'Tana might have 
 a home of her own, and have it close to where the ore 
 
ISO THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 streaked with gold had been found. Then he sent the 
 Indians up the river again, and did with his own hands 
 all labor needed about the camp. 
 
 "You'll be sick yourself, Overton," growled the doctor, 
 who slept in the tent with him, and knew that scarce an 
 hour of the night passed that he was not at the door of 
 'Tana's cabin, to learn if any help was needed, or merely 
 to stand without and listen to her voice as she spoke. 
 
 "For mercy's sake, Mr. Dan, do be a little careful of 
 yourself," entreated Mrs. Huzzard; ''for if you should 
 get used up, I don't know what I ever would do here in 
 this wilderness, with 'Tana and the paralyzed man and 
 you to look after to say nothing of the fear I'm in every 
 hour because o' that nasty beast of an Indian that you 
 say is a chief. He is here constant !" 
 
 "Proof of your attractive powers," said Overton, re- 
 assuringly. "He comes to admire you, that is all." 
 
 "And enough, too! And if it wasn't for you that's 
 here to protect me, the good Lord only knows whether 
 I'd ever see a milliner shop or a pie again, as long as I 
 lived. So I am set on your taking more care of yourself 
 now won't you?" 
 
 "Wait until you have cause, before you worry," he 
 advised, "I don't look like a sick man, do I?" 
 
 "You don't look like a well one, anyway," she said, 
 looking at him carefully; "and you don't look as I ever 
 saw you look before. You are as hollow eyed as though 
 you had been sick yourself for a month. Altogether, 
 I think your coming out here to camp in the wild woods 
 has been a big- mistake." 
 
 "It looks like it just now," he agreed, and his eyes, 
 tired and troubled, looked past her into the cabin where 
 'Tana lay. "Does she seem better?" 
 
NEW-COMERS 181 
 
 "Just about the same. Eight days now since she was 
 took down ; and the doctor, he said to-morrow would be 
 the day to hope for a change, either for the better or " 
 
 But the alternative was not a thing easy for the good 
 soul to contemplate, and she left the sentence unfinished 
 and disappeared into the cabin again, while the man 
 outside dropped his head in his hands, feeling the most 
 helpless creature in all the world. 
 
 "Better to-morrow, or worse;" that was what Mrs. 
 Huzzard meant, but could not utter. Better or worse! 
 And if the last, she might be dying now, each minute! 
 And he was powerless to help her powerless even to 
 utter all the regret, the remorse, the heart-aching sor- 
 row that was with him, for her ears were closed to the 
 sense of words, and his lips were locked by some key 
 of some past. 
 
 His own judgment on himself was not light as he 
 went over in his mind each moment of their hours to-, 
 gether. Poor little Tana! poor little stray! 
 
 "I promised not to question her ; yes, I promised that, 
 or she would never have left the Indians with me. And 
 I I was savage with her, just because she would not 
 tell me what she had a perfect right to keep from me if 
 she chose. Even if it was a lover, what right had I to 
 object? What right to hold her hands to say all the 
 things I said? If she were a woman, I could tell her 
 all I think all, and let her judge. But not as it is not 
 to a girl so young so troubled so much of a stray. 
 Oh, God! she shall never be a stray again, if only she 
 gets well. I'd stay here digging forever if I could only 
 send her out in the world among people who will make 
 her happy. And she the child, the child! said she 
 would rather live here as we did than to have the gold 
 
182 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 that would make her rich. God ! it is hard for a man to 
 forget that, no matter what duty says." 
 
 So his thoughts would ramble on each day, each 
 night, and his restlessness grew until Harris took to 
 watching him with a great pity in his eyes, and mutely 
 asked each time he entered if hope had grown any 
 stronger. 
 
 By the request of Mrs. Huzzard they had moved Har- 
 ris into the other room of the cabin, because of a rain 
 which fell one night, and reminded them that his earthen 
 floor might prove injurious to his health. Mrs. Huz- 
 zard declared she was afraid, with that room empty; 
 and Harris, though having a partially dead body, had 
 at least a living soul, and she greatly preferred his 
 presence to the spiritless void and the fear of Indian oc- 
 cupancy. 
 
 So she shared the room with Tana, and the doctor and 
 Overton used one tent, while the squaw used the other. 
 All took turns watching at night beside the girl, who 
 never knew one from the other, but who talked of gold 
 gold that was too heavy a load for her to carry gold 
 that ran in streams where she tried to find water to drink 
 and could not gold that Dan thought was better than 
 friends or their pretty camp. And over those woes she 
 would moan until frightened from them by ghosts, the 
 ghosts she hated, and which she begged them so pit- 
 eously to keep out of her sight. 
 
 So they had watched her for days, and toward the 
 evening of the eighth Overton was keeping an ever- 
 watchful ear for the Indian and the doctor who had 
 gone personally to fetch needed medicines from the set- 
 tlement. 
 
NEW-COMERS 183 
 
 Akkomi was there as usual. Each day he would 
 come, sit in the doorway of the Harris cabin for hours, 
 and contemplate the helpless man there. When evening 
 arrived he would enter his canoe and go back to his own 
 camp, which at that time was not more than five miles 
 away. 
 
 Overton, fearing that Harris would be painfully an- 
 noyed by the presence of this self-invited visitor, offered 
 to entertain him in his own tent, if Harris preferred. 
 But while Harris looked with no kindly eye on the old 
 fellow, he signified that the Indian should remain, if he 
 pleased. This was a decision so unexpected that Over- 
 ton asked Harris if he had ever met Akkomi before. 
 
 He received an affirmative nod, which awakened his 
 curiosity enough to make him question the Indian. 
 
 The old fellow nodded and smoked in silence for a 
 little while before making a reply; then he said: 
 
 "Yes, one summer, one winter ago, the man worked 
 in the hills beyond the river. Our hunters were there 
 and saw him. His cabin is there still." 
 
 "Who was with him?" 
 
 "White man, stranger," answered Akkomi briefly. 
 "This man stranger, too, in the Kootenai country 
 stranger from away somewhere there," and he pointed 
 vaguely toward the east. "Name Joe so him called." 
 
 "And the other man?" 
 
 "Other man stranger, too go way never come back. 
 This one go away, too; but he come back." 
 
 "And that is all you know of them?" 
 
 "All. Joe not like Indian friends," and the old fel- 
 low's eyes wrinkled up in the semblance of laughter; 
 ''too much tenderfoot, maybe." 
 
184: THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "But Joe's partner," persisted Overton, "he was not 
 tenderfoot? He had Indian friends on the Columbia 
 River." 
 
 "Maybe," agreed the old fellow, and his sly, beadlike 
 eyes turned toward his questioner sharply and were as 
 quickly withdrawn, "maybe so. They hunt silver over 
 there. No good." 
 
 Just inside the door Harris sat straining his ears to 
 catch every word, and Akkomi's assumption of bland 
 ignorance brought a rather sardonic smile to his face, 
 while his lips moved in voiceless mutterings of anger. 
 Impatience was clearly to be 'read in his face as he waited 
 for Overton to question further, and his right hand 
 opened and closed in his eagerness. 
 
 But no other questions were asked just then; for 
 Overton suddenly walked away, leaving the crafty-eyed 
 Akkomi alone in his apparent innocence of Joe's past or 
 Joe's partner. 
 
 The old fellow looked after him kindly enough, but 
 shook his head and smoked his dirty black pipe, while 
 an expression of undivulged knowledge adorned his 
 withered physiognomy. 
 
 "No, Dan, no," he murmured. "Akkomi good friend 
 to little sick squaw and to you ; but he not tell not tell 
 all things." 
 
 Then his ears, not so keen as in years gone by, heard 
 sounds on the water, sounds coming closer and closer. 
 But Dan's younger ears had heard them first, and it was 
 to learn the cause that he had left so abruptly and walked 
 to the edge of the stream. 
 
 It was the doctor and the Indian boatman who came 
 in sight first around the bend of the creek. Back of them 
 .was another canoe, but a much larger, much more pre- 
 
NEW-COMERS 185 
 
 tentious one. In this was Lyster and a middle-aged gen- 
 tleman of rather portly build, who dressed in a fashion 
 very fine when compared with the average garb of the 
 wilderness. 
 
 Overton watched with some surprise the approach of 
 the man, who was an utter stranger to him, and yet who 
 bore a resemblance to some one seen before. A certain 
 something about the shape of the nose and general con- 
 tour of the face seemed slightly familiar. He had time 
 to notice, also, that the hair was auburn in color, and 
 inclined to curl, and that back of him sat a female form. 
 By the time he had made these observations, their boat 
 had touched the shore, and Lyster was shaking his hand 
 vigorously. 
 
 "I got your letter, telling me of your big strike. It 
 caught me before I was quite started for Helena, so I just 
 did some talking for you where I thought it would do the 
 most good, old fellow, and turned right around and 
 came back. I've been wild to hear about 'Tana. How is 
 she? This is my friend, Mr. T. J. Haydon, my uncle's 
 partner, you know. He has made this trip to talk a little 
 business with you, and when I learned you were not 
 at the settlement, but up here in camp, I thought it would 
 be all right to fetch him along." 
 
 "Of course it is all right," answered Overton, assur- 
 ingly. "Our camp has a welcome for your friend even 
 if we haven't first-class accommodations for him. And 
 is this lady also a friend?" 
 
 For Lyster, forgetful of his usual gallantry, had al- 
 lowed the doctor to assist the other voyager from the 
 canoe a rather tall lady of the age generally expressed 
 as "uncertain," although the certainty of it was an in- 
 disputable fact. 
 
186 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 A rather childish hat was perched upon her thin but 
 carefully frizzed hair, and over her face floated a white 
 veil, that was on a drawing string around the crown of 
 the hat and drooped gracefully and chastely over the 
 features beneath, after the fashion of 1860. A string 
 t>f beads adorned the thin throat, and the rest of her 
 array was after the same order of elegance. 
 
 The doctor and Lyster exchanged glances, and Lyster 
 was silently proclaimed master of ceremonies. 
 
 "Oh, yes," he said, easily. "Pardon me that I am neg- 
 lectful, and let me introduce you to Miss Slocum 
 Miss Lavina Slocum of Cherry Run. Ohio. She is the 
 cousin of our friend, Mrs. Huzzard, and was in despair 
 when she found her relative had left the settlement; so 
 we had the pleasure of her company when she heard we 
 were coming direct to the place where Mrs. Huzzard was 
 located." 
 
 "She will be glad to see you, miss," said Overton, 
 holding out his hand to her in very hearty greeting. 
 "Nothing could be more welcome to this camp just now 
 than the arrival of a lady, for poor Mrs. Huzzard has 
 been having a sorry siege of care for the last week. 
 If you will come along, I will take you to her at once." 
 
 Gathering up her shawl, parasol, a fluffy, pale pink 
 "cloud," and a homemade and embroidered traveling 
 bag, he escorted her with the utmost deference to the 
 door of the log cabin, leaving Lyster without another 
 word. 
 
 That easily amused gentleman stared after the couple 
 with keen appreciation of the picture they presented. 
 Miss Slocum had a queer, mincing gait which her long 
 limbs appeared averse to, and the result was a little 
 hitchy. But she kept up with Overton, and surveyed 
 
NEW-COMERS J8T 
 
 him with weak blue eyes of gratitude. He appeared to 
 her a very admirable personage a veritable knight of 
 the frontier, possibly a border hero such as every natural 
 woman has an ideal of. 
 
 But to Lyster, Dan with his arms filled with female 
 trappings and a lot of pink zephyr blown about his face 
 and streaming over his shoulder, like a veritable banner 
 of Love's color, was a picture too ludicrous to be lost. 
 He gazed after them in a fit of delight that seemed likely 
 to end in apoplexy, because he was obliged to keep his 
 hilarity silent. 
 
 "Just look at him !" he advised, in tones akin to a stage 
 whisper. "Isn't he a great old Dan? And maybe you 
 think he would not promenade beside that make-up just 
 as readily on Broadway, New York, or on Chestnut 
 street, Philadelphia? Well, sir, he would! If it was 
 necessary that some man should go with her, he would 
 be the man to go, and Heaven help anybody he saw 
 laughing! If you knew Dan Overton twenty years you 
 would not see anything that would give you a better 
 key to his nature than just his manner of acting cavalier 
 to that wonder." 
 
 But Mr. Haydon did not appear to appreciate the 
 scene with the same degree of fervor. 
 
 "Ah!" he said, turning his eyes with indifference to 
 the two figures, and with scrutiny over the little camp- 
 site and primitive dwellings. "Am I to understand, 
 then, that your friend, the ranger, is a sort of modern 
 Don Juan, to whom any order of femininity is accept- 
 able?" 
 
 "No," said Lyster, facing about suddenly. "And if 
 my thoughtless manner of speech would convey such 
 an idea of Dan Overton, then (to borrow one of Dan's 
 
188 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 own expressions) I deserve to be kicked around God's 
 footstool for a while." 
 
 "Well, when you speak of his devotion to any sort of 
 specimen " 
 
 "Of course/' agreed Lyster. "I see my words were 
 misleading especially to one unaccustomed to the life 
 and people out here. But Dan, as Don Juan, is one of 
 the most unimaginable things ! Why, he does not seem 
 to know women exist as individuals. This is the only 
 fault I have to find with him ; for the man who does not 
 care for some woman, or never has cared for any woman, 
 is, according to my philosophy, no good on earth. But 
 Dan just looks the other way if they commence to give 
 him sweet glances and they do, too! though he thinks 
 that collectively they are all angels. Yes, sir! let the 
 worst old harridan that ever was come to Overton with 
 a tale of virtue and misfortune, and he will take off his 
 hat and divide up his money, giving her a good share, 
 just because she happens to be a woman. That is the 
 sort of devotion to women I had reference to when I 
 spoke first ; the wonder to me is that he has not been 
 caught in a matrimonial noose long ere this by some 
 thrifty maid or matron. He seems to me guileless game 
 for them, as his sympathy is always so easily touched." 
 
 "Perhaps he is keeping free from bonds that he may 
 marry this ward of his for whom he appears so troubled," 
 remarked Mr. Haydon. 
 
 Lyster looked anything but pleased at the suggestion. 
 
 "I don't think he would like to hear that said," he re- 
 turned. " Tana is only a little girl in his eyes one left 
 in his charge at the death of her own people, and one 
 who appeals to him very strongly just now because of 
 her helplessness." 
 
NEW-COMERS 189 
 
 "Well," said Mr. Haydon, with a slight smile, "I ap- 
 pear to be rather unfortunate in all my surmises over 
 the people of this new country, especially this new camp. 
 I do not know whether it is because I am in a stupid 
 mood, or because I have come among people too peculiar 
 to be judged by ordinary standards. But the thing I am 
 interested in above and beyond our host and his pro- 
 t$gte is the gold mine he wrote you to find a buyer for. 
 I think I could appreciate that, at least, at its full value, 
 if I was allowed a sight of the output." 
 
 The doctor had hurried to the cabin even before Over- 
 ton and Miss Slocum, so the two gentlemen were left by 
 themselves, to follow at their leisure. Mr. Haydon 
 seemed a trifle resentful at this indifferent reception. 
 
 "One would think this man had been making big deals 
 in gold ore all his life, and was perfectly indifferent as 
 to whether our capital is to be used to develop this find 
 of his," he remarked, as they approached the cabin. "Did 
 you not tell me he was a poor man?" 
 
 "Oh, yes. Poor in gold or silver of the United States 
 mint," agreed Lyster, with a strong endeavor to keep 
 down his impatience of this magnate of the speculative 
 world, this wizard of the world of stocks and bonds, 
 whom his partners deferred to, whose nod and beck 
 meant much in a circle of capitalists. "I myself, when 
 back East," thought Lyster to himself, "considered Hay- 
 don a wonderful man, but he seems suddenly to have 
 grown dwarfed and petty in my eyes, and I wonder that 
 I ever paid such reverence to his judgment." 
 
 He smiled dubiously to himself at the consciousness 
 that the wide spirit of the West must have already 
 changed his own views of things somewhat, since once 
 he had thought this marketer of mines superior. 
 13 
 
190 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "But no one out here would think of calling Dan 
 Overton poor," he continued, "simply because he is not 
 among the class that weighs a man's worth by the dollars 
 he owns. He is considered one of the solid men of the 
 district one of the best men to know. But no one 
 thinks of gauging his right to independence by the 
 amount of his bank account." 
 
 Mr. Haydon shrugged his shoulders, and tapped his 
 foot with the gold-headed umbrella he carried. 
 
 "Oh, yes. I suppose it seems very fine in young minds 
 and a young country, to cultivate an indifference to 
 wealth; but to older minds and civilization it grows to 
 be a necessity. Is that object over there also one of 
 the solid men of the community?" 
 
 It was Akkomi he had reference to, and the serene 
 manner with which the old fellow glanced over them, 
 and nonchalantly smoked his pipe in the doorway, did 
 give him the appearance of a fixture about the camp, and 
 puzzled Lyster somewhat, for he had never before met 
 the ancient chief. 
 
 He nodded his head, however, saying "How?" in 
 friendly greeting, and the Indian returned the civility 
 in the same way, but gave slight attention to the speaker. 
 All the attention of his little black eyes was given to 
 the stranger, who did not address him, and whose gaze 
 was somewhat critical and altogether contemptuous. 
 
 Then Mrs. Huzzard, without waiting for them to reach 
 the door, hurried out to greet Lyster. 
 
 "I'm as glad as any woman can be to see you back 
 again," she said heartily, "though it's more than I hoped 
 for so soon, and Yes, the doctor says she's a little 
 better, thank God! And your name has been on her 
 lips more than once poor dear! since she has been 
 
NEW-COMERS 191 
 
 flighty, and all the thanks I feel to you for bringing 
 Lavina right along I can never tell you; for it seems a 
 month since I saw a woman last. I just can't count 
 the squaw! And do you want to come in and look at 
 our poor little girl now? She won't know you; but if 
 you wish " 
 
 "May I?" asked Lyster, gratefully. Then he turned 
 to the stranger. 
 
 "Your daughter back home is about the same age," 
 he remarked. "Will you come in ?" 
 
 "Oh, certainly," answered Mr. Haydon, rather willing 
 to go anywhere away from the very annoying old red- 
 skin of the pipe and the very very scrutinizing eyes. 
 
 The doctor and Overton had passed into the room 
 where Harris was, and Mrs. Huzzard halted at the door 
 with her cousin, so that the two men approached the 
 bed alone. The dark form of Akkomi had slipped in 
 after them like a shadow, but a very alert one, for his 
 head was craned forward that his eyes might lose never 
 an expression of the fine stranger's face. 
 
 'Tana's eyes were closed, but her lips moved voice- 
 lessly. The light was dim in the little room, and Lyster 
 bent over to look at her, and touched her hot forehead 
 tenderly. 
 
 "Poor little girl ! poor 'Tana !" he said, and turned the 
 covering from about her chin where she had pulled it. 
 He had seen her last so saucy, so defiant of all his wishes, 
 and the change to this utter helplessness brought the 
 quick tears to his eyes. He clasped her hand softly and 
 turned away. 
 
 "It is too dark in here to see anything very clearly," 
 said the stranger, who bent toward her slightly, with his 
 hat in his hand. 
 
192 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 Then Akkomi, who had intercepted the light some- 
 what, moved from the foot of the bed to the stranger's 
 side, and a little sunshine rifted through the small door- 
 way and outlined more clearly the girl's face on the 
 pillow. 
 
 The stranger, who was quite close to her, uttered a 
 sudden gasping cry as he saw her face more clearly, and 
 drew back from the bed. 
 
 The dark hand of the Indian caught his white wrist 
 and held him, while with the other hand he pointed to 
 the curls of reddish brown clustering around the girl's 
 pale forehead, and from them to the curls on Mr. Hay- 
 don's own bared head. They were not so luxuriant as 
 those of the girl, but they were of the same character, 
 almost the same color, and the vague resemblance to 
 something familiar by which Overton had been im- 
 pressed was at once located by the old Indian the mo- 
 ment the stranger lifted the hat from his head. 
 
 "Sick, maybe die," said Akkomi, in a voice that was 
 almost a whisper "die away from her people, away 
 from the blood that is as her blood," and he pointed to 
 the blue veins on the white man's wrist. 
 
 With an exclamation of fear and anger, Mr. Haydon 
 flung off the Indian's hand. 
 
 Lyster, scarce hearing the words spoken, simply 
 thought the old fellow was drunk, and was about to 
 interfere, when the girl, as though touched by the con- 
 test above her, turned mutteringly on the pillow and 
 opened her unconscious eyes on the face of the stranger. 
 
 "See!" said the Indian. "She looks at you." 
 
 "Ah! Great God!" muttered the other and staggered 
 back out of the range of the wide-open eyes. 
 
NEW-COMERS 193 
 
 Lyster, puzzled, astonished, came forward to question 
 his Eastern friend, who pushed past him rudely, blindly, 
 and made his way out into the sunshine. 
 
 Akkomi looked after him with a gratified expression 
 on his dark, wrinkled old face, and bending over the girl, 
 he muttered in a soothing way words in the Indian 
 tongue, as though to quiet her restlessness with Indian 
 witchery. 
 
194: THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SOMETHING WORSE THAN A GOLD CRISIS. 
 
 "What is the matter with your friend?" asked Over- 
 ton, as Lyster stood staring after Mr. Haydon, who 
 walked alone down the way they had come from the 
 boats. "Is one glimpse of our camp life enough to drive 
 him to the river again?" 
 
 "No, no that is well, I don't just know what ails 
 him," confessed. Lyster, rather lamely. "He went in 
 with me to see 'Tana, and seems all upset by the sight 
 of her. She does look very low, Dan. At home he has 
 a daughter about her age, who really resembles her a lit- 
 tle as he does a girl he thinks the world of. Maybe 
 that had something to do with his feelings. I don't 
 know, though; never imagined he was so impressionable 
 to other people's misfortunes. And that satanic-looking 
 old Indian helped make things uncomfortable for him." 
 
 "Who Akkomi?" 
 
 "Oh, that is Akkomi, is it ? The old chief who was too 
 indisposed to receive me when I awaited admittance to 
 his royal presence ! Humph ! Well, he seemed lively 
 enough a minute ago said something to Haydon that 
 nearly gave him fits; and then, as if satisfied with his 
 deviltry, he collapsed into the folds of his blanket again, 
 and looks bland and innocent as a spring lamb at the pres- 
 ent speaking. Is he grand chamberlain of your estab- 
 
WORSE THAN A GOLD CRISIS 195 
 
 lishment here? Or is he a medicine man you depend on 
 to cure Tana ?" 
 
 "Akkomi said something to Mr. Haydon?" asked 
 Overton, incredulously. "Nonsense! It could not have 
 been anything Haydon would understand, anyway, for 
 Akkomi does not speak English." 
 
 Lyster looked at him from the corner of his eyes, and 
 whistled rather rudely. 
 
 "Now, it is not necessary for any reason whatever, 
 for you to hide the accomplishments of your noble red 
 friend," he remarked. "You are either trying to gull 
 me, or Akkomi is trying to gull you which is it ?" 
 
 "What do you mean ?" demanded Overton, impatiently. 
 "You look as though there may be a grain of sense in 
 the immense amount of fool stuff you are talking. Ak- 
 komi, maybe, understands English a little when it is 
 spoken ; but, like many another Indian who does the 
 same, he will not speak it. I have known him for two 
 years, in his own camp and on the trail, and I have 
 never yet heard him use English words." 
 
 "Well, I have not had the felicity of even a two- 
 hour acquaintance with his royal chieftainship/' re- 
 marked Lyster, "but during the limited space of time I 
 have been allowed to gaze on him I am confident I heard 
 him use five English words, and use them very naturally." 
 
 "Can you tell me what they were?" 
 
 "Certainly ; and I see I will have to and maybe bring 
 proof to indorse me before you will quite credit what I 
 tell you," answered Lyster, with an amused expression. 
 "You can scarcely believe a tenderfoot has learned more 
 of your vagabond reds than you yourself knew, can you ? 
 Well, I distinctly heard him say to Mr. Haydon : 'See ! 
 She looks at you.' But his other mutterings did not 
 
196 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 reach my ears; they did Haydon's, however, and drove 
 him out yonder. I tell you, Dan, you ought to chain up 
 your medicine men when capitalists brave the wilds of 
 the Kootenai to lay wealth at your doorstep, for this 
 pet of yours is not very engaging." 
 
 Overton paid little heed to the chaffing of his friend. 
 His gaze wandered to the old Indian, who, as Lyster 
 said, was at that moment a picture of bland indifference. 
 He was sunning himself again at the door of Harris' 
 cabin, and his eyes followed sleepily the form of Mr. 
 Haydon, who had stopped at the creek, and with hands 
 clasped back of him, was staring into the swift-flowing 
 mountain stream. 
 
 "Oh, I don't doubt you, Max," said Overton, at last. 
 "Don't speak as if I did. But the idea that old Akkomi 
 really expressed himself in English would suggest to me a 
 vital necessity, or else that he was becoming weak in his 
 old age ; for his prejudice against his people using any 
 of the white men's words has been the most stubborn 
 thing in his whole make-up. And what strong necessity 
 could there be for him to address Mr* Haydon, an utter 
 stranger ?" 
 
 "Don't know, I am sure unless it is that his interest 
 in 'Tana is very strong. You know she saved the life 
 of his little grandchild the future chief, you said. And 
 I think you are fond of asserting that an Indian never for- 
 gets a favor; so it may be that his satanic majesty over 
 there only wanted to interest a seemingly influential 
 stranger in a poor little sick girl, and was not aware 
 that he took an uncanny way of doing it. Had we bet- 
 ter go down and apologize to Haydon?" 
 
 "You can directly. Who is he?" 
 
WORSE THAN A GOLD CRISIS 197 
 
 "Well, he is the great moneyed mogul at the back of 
 the company for whom you have been doing some re- 
 sponsible work out here. I guess he is what you call 
 a silent partner; while Mr. Seldon my relation, you 
 know has been the active member in the mining deals. 
 They have been friends this long time. I have heard 
 that Seldon was to have married Haydon's sister years 
 ago. Wedding day set and all, when the charms of a 
 handsome employee of theirs proved stronger than her 
 promise, and she was found missing one morning; also 
 the handsome clerk, as well as a rather heavy sum of 
 money, to which the clerk had access. Of course, they 
 never supposed that the girl knew she was eloping with 
 a thief. But her brother this one here never forgave 
 her. An appeal for help came to him once from her 
 there was a child then but it was ignored, and they 
 never heard from her again. Haydon was very fond of 
 her, I believe fond and proud, and never got over the 
 disgrace of it. Seldon never married, and he did what 
 he could to make her family forgive her, and look after 
 her. But it was no use, though their regard for him 
 never lessened. So you see they are partners from away 
 back; and while Haydon is considerable of an expert in 
 mineralogy, this is the first visit he has ever made to 
 their works up in the Northwest. In fact, he had not 
 intended coming so far north just now; he was waiting 
 for Seldon, who was down in Idaho. But when I got 
 your letter, and impressed on his mind the good business 
 policy of having the firm investigate at once, he fell in 
 with the idea, and here we are ! Now, that is about all 
 I can tell you of Haydon, and how he came here." 
 
 "Less would have been plenty," said Overton, with a 
 pretended sigh of relief. "I didn't ask to be told his 
 
198 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 sister's love affairs or his brother-in-law's failings. I 
 was asking about the man himself." 
 
 "Well, I don't know what to tell you about him ; there 
 doesn't seem to be anything to say. He is T. J. Haydon, 
 a man who inherited both money and a genius for spec- 
 ulation. Not a plunger, you know; but one of those 
 pursy, far-seeing fellows who always put their money 
 on the right number and wait patiently until it wins. I 
 might tell you that he was sentimental once in his life, 
 and got married; and I might tell you of a pretty 
 daughter he has (and whom he used to be very much 
 afraid I would make love to), but I suppose you would 
 not be interested in those exciting details, so I will re- 
 frain. But as to the man himself and his trip here, I 
 can only say, if you have made a strike up here, he is 
 the very best man I know to get interested. Better even 
 than Seldon, for Seldon always defers to Haydon, while 
 Haydon always acts on his own judgment. And say, 
 old fellow, long as we have talked, you have not yet 
 told me one word of the new gold mine. I suspected 
 none of the Ferry folks knew of it, from the general 
 opinion that your trip here was an idiotic affair. Even 
 the doctor said there was no sane reason why you should 
 have dragged Harris and 'Tana into the woods as you 
 did. I kept quiet, remembering the news in your letter, 
 for I was sure you did not decide on this expedition 
 without a good reason. Then the contents of that let- 
 ter I read the night Harris collapsed well, it stuck in 
 my mind, and I got to wondering if your bonanza was 
 the one he had found before. Oh, I've been doing some 
 surmising about it. Am I right?" 
 
 "Pretty nearly," assented Overton. "Of course I knew 
 some of the folks would raise a howl because I let 'Tana 
 
WORSE THAN A GOLD CRISIS 199 
 
 come along ; but it was necessary, and I thought it would 
 be best for her in the end, else you may be sure be very 
 sure I would not have had her come. She was to 
 have gone back at once the very next day; but when 
 the next day came, she was not able. I have done what 
 I could, but nothing seems to count. She does not get 
 ( well, and the gold doesn't play much of a figure in this 
 camp just now. One-third of the find is hers, and the 
 same for Harris and me ; but I'd give my share cheerfully 
 this minute if it would buy back health for her and let 
 me see her laughing and bright again." 
 
 Lyster reached out his hand and gave Overton's arm 
 an affectionate pressure. 
 
 "Don't I know it, Dan?" he asked kindly. "Can't I 
 see that you have just worked and worried yourself sick 
 over her illness blaming yourself, perhaps " 
 
 "Yes, that is it blaming myself for many things/' 
 he agreed, brokenly, and then he checked himself as 
 Lyster's curious glance was turned on him. "So you see 
 I am in no fit condition to talk values with this Mr. 
 Haydon. All my thoughts are somewhere else. Doctor 
 says if she is not better to-night she will not get well. 
 That means she will not live. Tell your friend that 
 something worse than a gold crisis is here just now, and 
 I can't talk to him till it is over. Don't mind if I'm even 
 a % bit careless with you, Max. Look after yourselves 
 as well as you can. You are welcome you know that ; 
 but what's the use of words? Perhaps 'Tana is dying !" 
 
 And turning his back abruptly on his friend, he walked 
 away, while Lyster looked after him with some surprise. 
 
 "I seem to be dropped by everybody," he remarked, 
 "first Haydon and now Dan. But I don't believe there 
 is danger of her dying. I won't believe it! Dan has 
 
200 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 worried himself sick and fearful during these terrible 
 days, but I'll do my share now and let him get some rest 
 and sleep. Tana die! I can't think it. But I care ten 
 times more for Dan, just because of his devotion to her. 
 I wonder what he would think if he knew why I wanted 
 her to go to school, or how much she was in my mind 
 every hour I was gone. I felt like telling him just now, 
 but better not not yet. He thinks she is only a little 
 child yet- Dear old Dan!" 
 
 He entered the cabin and spoke to Harris, whom he 
 had not seen before, and who looked with pleasure at him,, 
 though, as ever, speechless and moveless, but for that 
 nod of his head and the bright, quick glance of his eyes. 
 
 From him he went again to 'Tana; but she lay still 
 and pale, with closed eyes and no longer muttering. 
 
 "There ain't a blessed thing you can do, Mr. Max," 
 said Mrs. Huzzard, in a wheezing whisper; "but if there 
 is, you may be sure I'll let you know and glad to do it. 
 Lavina says she's going to help me to a rest; and you 
 must help Dan Overton, for slept he has not, and I know 
 it, these eight nights since I've been here. And if that 
 ain't enough to kill a man !" 
 
 "Sure enough. But now that I am here, we will not 
 have any night watches on his part," decided Lyster. "Be- 
 tween Miss Slocum and myself I think we can manage to 
 do some very creditable nursing," 
 
 "I am willing to do my best," said Miss Lavina, with 
 a shrinking glance toward Flap- Jacks, who just slouched 
 past with a bucket of water; "but I must confess I do 
 feel a timidity in the presence of these sly-looking In- 
 dians. And if at night I can only be sure none of them 
 are very close, I may be able to watch this poor girl in- 
 stead of watching for them with their tomahawks." 
 
WORSE THAN A GOLD CRISIS 201 
 
 "Never fear while I am detailed as guard," answered 
 Lyster, reassuringly. "They will reach you only over 
 my dead body." 
 
 "Oh, but " and the timid one arose as if for instant 
 flight, but was held by Mrs. Huzzard. 
 
 "Now, now !" she said reprovingly to the young fellow, 
 "it's noways good-natured of you to make us more 
 scared of the dirty things than we are naturally. But, 
 Lavina, I'll go bail that he never yet has seen a dead 
 body of their killing since he came in the country. Lord 
 knows, they don't look as if they would kill a sheep, 
 though they might steal them fast enough. It ain't from 
 Dan Overton that you ever learned to scare women, Mr. 
 Max ; you wouldn't catch him at such tricks." 
 
 "Now I beg that whatever you do, Mrs. Huzzard, you 
 will not compare me to that personage," objected Lyster; 
 "for I am convinced that anything human would in your 
 eyes suffer by such a comparison. Great is Dan in the 
 camp of the Kootenais !" 
 
 Mrs. Huzzard only laughed at his words, but Miss 
 Lavina did not. She even let her eyes wander again to 
 Akkomi, in order to show her disapproval of frivolous 
 comment on Mr. Overton; a fact Lyster perceived and 
 was immensely amused by. 
 
 "She has set her covetous maidenly eyes on him, and 
 if she doesn't marry him before the year is over, he will 
 have to be clever," he decided, as he left them and went 
 to look up Haydon. "Serves Dan right if she did, for 
 he never gives any other fellow half a chance with the 
 old ladies. The rest of us have to be content with the 
 young ones." 
 
202 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THROUGH THE NIGHT. 
 
 The soft dusk of the night had fallen over the northern 
 lands, and the pale stars had gleamed for hours on the 
 reflecting waves of mountain streams. It was late ' 
 near midnight, for the waning sickle of the moon was 
 slipping from its dark cover in the east and hanging like 
 a jewel of gold just above the black crown of the pines. 
 Breaths from the heights sifted down through the vast 
 woods, carrying sometimes the dreary twitter of a bird 
 disturbed, or the mellow call of insects singing to each 
 other of the summer night. All sounds of the wilder- 
 ness were as echoes of rest and utter content. 
 
 And in the camp of the Twin Springs, shadows moved 
 sometimes with a silence that was scarce a discord 
 in the wood songs of repose. A camp fire glimmered 
 faintly a little way up from the stream, and around it 
 slept the Indian boatman, the squaw, and old Akkomi, 
 who, to the surprise of Overton, had announced his in- 
 tention of remaining until morning, that he might know 
 how the sickness went with the little "Girl-not-Afraid." 
 
 A dim light showed through the chinks of 'Tana's 
 cabin, where Miss Lavina, the doctor, and Lyster were 
 on guard for the night. The doctor had grown sleepy 
 and moved into Han is' room, where he could be com- 
 fortable on blankets. Lyster, watching the girl, was try- 
 ing to make himself think that their watching was all 
 
THROUGH THE NIGHT 203 
 
 of no use; her sleep seemed so profound, so healthfully 
 natural, that he could not bring himself to think, as Dan 
 did, that the doctor's worst prophecy could come true 
 that out of that sleep she might awake to consciousness, 
 or that, on the other hand, she might drift from sleep 
 to lethargy and thus out of life. 
 
 Outside a man stood peering in through a chink from 
 which he had stealthily pulled the moss. He could not 
 see the girl's face, but he could see that of Lyster as he 
 bent over, listening to her breathing, and he watched 
 it as if to glean some reflected knowledge from the young 
 fellow's earnest glances. 
 
 He had been there a long time. Once he slipped away 
 for a short distance and stood in the deeper shadows, 
 but he had returned, and was listening to the low, dis- 
 jointed converse of the watchers within, when suddenly 
 a tall form loomed up beside him and a heavy hand 
 was dropped on his shoulder. 
 
 "Not a word !" said a voice close to his ear. "If ypu 
 make a noise, I'll strangle you ! Come along !" 
 
 To do otherwise was not easy, for the hand on his 
 shoulder had a helpful grip. He was almost lifted over 
 the ground until they were several yards from the cabin, 
 and out in the clearer light of the stars. 
 
 "Well, I protest, Mr. Overton, that your manner is not 
 very pleasant," remarked the captive, as he was released 
 and allowed to speak. "Is is this sort of threats a habit 
 of yours with strangers in your camp?" 
 
 Overton, seeing him now away from the thick shadows 
 of the cabin, gave a low exclamation of astonishment and 
 irritation. 
 
 "You Mr. Haydon ! Well, you must confess that if 
 my threats are not pleasant, neither is it pleasant to find 
 
204 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 some one moving like a spy around that little girl's cabin. 
 If you don't want to be treated like a spy, don't act like 
 one." 
 
 "Well, it does look queer, maybe," said the other, 
 lamely. "I I could not get asleep, and as I was walking 
 around, it seemed natural to look in the cabin, though I 
 did not want to disturb them by going in. I think I heard 
 them say she was improving." 
 
 "Did they say that lately?" asked Overton, earnestly, 
 everything else forgotten for the moment in his strong 
 desire for her recovery. "Who said it Miss Slocum? 
 Well, she seems like a sensible woman, and I hope to 
 God she is right about this! Don't mind my roughness 
 just now. I was too quick, maybe ; but spies around a 
 new gold mine or field are given pretty harsh treatment 
 up here sometimes ; and you were liable to suspicion from 
 any one." 
 
 "No doubt no doubt," agreed the other, with visible 
 relief. "But to be a suspected character is a new role for 
 me a bit amusing, too. However, now that you have 
 broached the subject of this new find of yours, I presume 
 Lyster made clear to you that I came up here for the 
 express purpose of investigating what you have to offer, 
 with a view to making a deal with you. And as my time 
 here will be limited " 
 
 "Perhaps to-morrow we can talk of it. I can't to- 
 night," answered Overton. "To that little girl in there 
 one-third of the stock belongs; another third belongs to 
 that paralyzed man in the other cabin. I have to look 
 after the interests of them both, and need to have my head 
 clear to do it. But with her there sick dying maybe 
 I can't think of dollars and cents." 
 
THROUGH THE NIGHT 205 
 
 "You mean to tell me that the young girl is joint 
 owner of a gold find promising a fortune? Why, I un- 
 derstood Max to say she was poor in fact, indebted 
 to you for all care." 
 
 "Max is too careless with his words," answered Over- 
 ton, coldly. "She is in my care yes ; but I do not think 
 she will be poor." 
 
 "She has a very conscientious guardian, anyway," re- 
 marked Mr. Haydon, "when it is impossible for a man 
 even to look in her cabin without finding you on his track. 
 I confess I am interested in her. Can you tell me how she 
 came in this wild country? I did not expect to find pretty 
 young white girls in the heart of this wilderness." 
 
 "I suppose not," agreed the other. 
 
 They had reached the little camp fire by this time, and 
 he threw some dry sticks on the red coals. As the blaze 
 leaped up and made bright the circle around them, he 
 looked at the stranger and said, bluntly : 
 
 "What did Akkomi tell you of her?" 
 
 "Akkomi?" 
 
 "Yes; the old Indian who went in with you to see 
 her." 
 
 "Oh, that fellow? Some gibberish." 
 
 "I guess he must have said that she looks like you," 
 decided Overton. "I rather think that was it." 
 
 "Like me! Why how " and Mr. Haydon tried to 
 smile away the absurdity of such a fancy. 
 
 "For there is a resemblance," continued the younger 
 man, with utter indifference to the stranger's confusion. 
 "Of course it may not mean anything a chance like- 
 ness. But it is very noticeable when your hat is off, and 
 it must have impressed the old Indian, who seems to 
 
 14 
 
206 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 think himself a sort of godfather to her. Yes, I guess 
 that was why he spoke to you." 
 
 "But her her people? Are there only you and these 
 Indians to claim her? She must have some family " 
 
 "Possibly," agreed Overton, curtly. "If she ever gets 
 able to answer, you can ask her. If you want to know 
 sooner, there is old Akkomi ; he can tell you, perhaps." 
 
 But Mr. Haydon made a gesture of antipathy to any; 
 converse with that individual. 
 
 "One meets so many astonishing things in this 
 country," he remarked, as though in extenuation of some- 
 thing. "The mere presence of such a savage in the sick 
 girl's room is enough to upset any one unused to this 
 border life it upset me completely. You see, I have a 
 daughter of my own back East." 
 
 "So Max tells me," replied Overton, carelessly, all 
 unconscious of the intended honor extended to him when 
 Mr. Haydon made mention of his own family to a ranger 
 of a few hours' acquaintance. 
 
 "Yes," Haydon continued, "and that naturally makes 
 one feel an interest in any young girl without home or 
 relatives, as this invalid is ; and I would be glad of 
 any information concerning her or any hint of help 
 I might be to her, partly for humanity's sake, and 
 partly for Max." 
 
 "At present I don't know of any service you could 
 render her," said Overton, coldly, conscious of a jarring, 
 unpleasant feeling as the man talked to him. He thought 
 idly to himself how queer it was that he should have an 
 instinctive feeling of dislike for a person who in the 
 slightest degree resembled 'Tana; and this stranger must 
 have resembled her much before he grew stout and 
 broad of face ; the hair, the nose, and other points about 
 
THROUGH THE NIGHT 207 
 
 the features, were very much alike. He did not wonder 
 that Akkomi might have been startled at it, and made 
 comments. But as he himself surveyed Mr. Haydon's 
 features by the flickering light of the burning sticks, he 
 realized how little the likeness of outlines amounted to 
 after all, since not a shadow of expression on the face 
 before him was like that of the girl whose sleep was 
 so carefully guarded in the cabin. 
 
 And then, with a feeling of thankfulness that it was 
 so, there flashed across his mind the import of the 
 stranger's closing words "for the sake of Max." 
 
 "For Max, you said. Well, maybe I am a little more 
 stupid than usual to-night, but I must own up I can't 
 see how a favor to 'Tana could affect Max very much." 
 
 "You do not?" 
 
 "I tell you so," said Overton curtly, not liking the 
 knowing smile in the eyes of the speaker. He did not 
 want to be there talking to him, anyway. To walk 
 alone under the stars was better than the discord of a 
 voice unpleasant. Under the stars she had come to him 
 that once once, when she had been clasped close 
 close! when she had whispered words near to his heart, 
 and their hands had touched in the magnetism of troubled 
 joy. Ah! it was best to remember that, though death 
 itself follow after! A short, impatient sigh touched his 
 lips as he tried to listen to the words of the stranger 
 while his thoughts were elsewhere. 
 
 "And Seldon would do something very handsome for 
 Max if he married to suit him," Haydon was saying, 
 thoughtfully. "Seldon has no children, you know, and 
 if this girl was sent to school for a while, I think it 
 would come out all right all right. I would take a 
 personal interest to the extent of talking to Seldon of it. 
 
208 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 He will think it a queer place for Max to come for a 
 wife; but when when I talk to him, he will agree. 
 Yes, I can promise it will be all right." 
 
 "What are you talking of ?" demanded Overton, blankly. 
 He had not heard one-half of a very carefully worded idea 
 of Mr. Haydon's. "Max married! To whom?" 
 
 "You are not a very flattering listener," remarked the 
 other, dryly, "and don't show much interest in the love 
 affairs of your prottgfe; but it was of her I was speak- 
 ing." 
 
 "You you would try to marry her to Max Lyster 
 marry her!" and his voice sounded in his own ears as 
 strange and far away. 
 
 "Well, it is not an unusual prophecy to make of a 
 young girl, is it?" asked Mr. Haydon, with an attempt 
 to be jocular. "And I don't know where she could find 
 a better young fellow. From his discourses concerning 
 her on our journey here and his evident devotion since 
 our arrival, I fancy the idea is not so new to him as it 
 seems to be to you, Mr. Overton." 
 
 "Nonsense! when she is well, they quarrel as often as 
 they agree oftener." 
 
 "That is no proof that he is not in love with her 
 and why not? She is a pretty girl, a bright girl, he 
 says, and of good people " 
 
 "He knows nothing about her people," interrupted 
 Overton. 
 
 "But you do?" 
 
 "I know all it has been necessary for me to know," 
 and, in spite of himself, he could not speak of 'Tana to 
 this man without a feeling of anger at his persistence. 
 "But I can't help being rather surprised, Mr. Haydon, 
 that you should so quickly agree that a wise thing for 
 
THROUGH THE NIGHT 209 
 
 your partner's nephew to do is to turn from all the cul- 
 tured, intelligent girls he must know, and look for a 
 wife among the mining camps of the Kootenai hills. 
 And, considering the fact that you approve of it, with- 
 out ever having heard her speak, without knowing in 
 the least who or what her family have been I must say 
 it is an extraordinarily impulsive thing for a man of 
 your reputation to do a cool-headed, conservative busi- 
 ness man." 
 
 Mr. Haydon found himself scrutinized very closely, 
 very coldly by the ranger, who had all the evening kept 
 away from him, and whom he had mentally jotted down 
 as a big, careless, improvident prospector, untaught and 
 a bit uncouth. 
 
 But his words were not uncouth as he launched them 
 at the older man, and he was no longer careless as he 
 watched the perturbation with which they were received. 
 But Haydon shrugged his shoulders and attempted to 
 look indifferent. 
 
 "I remarked just now that this was a land of astonish- 
 ing things," he said, with a tolerant air, "and it surely 
 is so when the most depraved-looking redskin is allowed 
 admittance to a white girl's chamber, while the most 
 harmless of Caucasians is looked on with suspicion if 
 he merely shows a little human interest in her welfare.'* 
 
 "Akkomi is a friend of her own choosing," answered 
 Overton, "and a friend who would be found trusty if 
 he was needed. As to you you have no right, that I 
 know of, to assume any direction of her affairs. She 
 will choose her own friends and her own husband 
 when she wants them. But while she is sick and helpless, 
 she is under my care, and even though you were her 
 
210 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 father himself, your ideas should not influence her future 
 unless she approved you." 
 
 With a feeling of relief he turned away, glad to have 
 in some way given vent to the irritation awakened in 
 him by the prosperous gentleman from civilization. 
 
 The prosperous gentleman saw his form grow dim in 
 the starlight, and though his face flushed angrily at first, 
 the annoyance gave place to a certain satisfaction as he 
 seated himself on a log by the fire, and repeated Overton's 
 final words: 
 
 " 'Even though you were her father himself!' Well, 
 well, Mr. Overtoil ! Your uncivil words have told me 
 more than you intended namely, that your own knowl- 
 edge as to who her father was, or is, seems very slight. 
 So much the better, for one of your unconventional order 
 is not the sort of person I should care to have know. 
 'Even though you were her father himself.' Humph ! 
 So he does me the doubtful honor to suppose I may be? 
 It is a nasty muddle all through. I never dreamed of 
 walking into such a net as this. But something must 
 be done, and that is clear; no use trying to shirk it, 
 for Seldon is sure to run across them sooner or later 
 up here : sure. And if he took a hand in it as he 
 would the minute he saw her well, I could not count 
 on his being quiet about it, either. I've thought it all 
 out this evening. I've got to get her away myself get 
 her to school, get her to marry Max, and all so quietly 
 that there sha'n't be any social sensation about her ad- 
 vent into the family. I hardly know whether this wealth 
 they talk of will be a help or a hindrance ; a help, I sup- 
 pose. And there need not be any hitch in the whole 
 affair if the girl is only reasonable and this autocratic 
 ranger can be ignored or bought over to silence. It 
 
THROUGH THE NIGHT 211 
 
 would be very annoying to have such family affairs 
 talked of annoying to the girl, also, when she lives 
 among people who object to scandals. Gad! how her 
 face did strike me ! I felt as if I had seen a ghost. And 
 that cursed Indian!" 
 
 Altogether, Mr. Haydon had considerable food for 
 reflection, and much of it was decidedly annoying; or 
 so it seemed to Akkomi, who lay in the shadow and 
 looked like a body asleep, as were the others. But from 
 a fold of his blanket he could see plainly the face of the 
 stranger and note the perplexity in it. 
 
 The first tender flush of early day was making the 
 stars dim when the doctor met Overton between the tents 
 and the cabins, and surveyed him critically from his 
 slouch hat to his boots, on which were splashes of water 
 and fresh loam. 
 
 "What, in the name of all that's infernal, has taken 
 possession of you, Overton?" he demanded, with as- 
 sumed anger and real concern. "You have not been in 
 bed all night. I know, for I've been to your tent. You 
 prowl somewhere in the woods when you ought to be in 
 bed, and you are looking like a ghost of yourself." 
 
 "Oh, I guess I'll last a day or two yet, so quit your 
 growling; you think you'll scare me into asking for 
 some of your medicines ; but that is where you will find 
 yourself beautifully left. I prefer a natural death." 
 
 "And you will find it, too, if you don't mend your 
 ways," retorted the man of the medicines. "I thought 
 at first it was the care of 'Tana that kept you awake 
 every hour of every night; but I see it is just the same 
 now when there are plenty to take your place; worse 
 for now you go tramping, God only knows where, and 
 
212 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 come back looking tired, as though you had been racing 
 with the devil." 
 
 ''You haven't told me how she is," was all the answer 
 he made to this tirade. "You said that by daylight " 
 
 "There would be a change yes, and there is; only 
 a shadow of a change as yet, but the shadow leans the 
 right way." 
 
 "The right way," he half whispered, and walked on 
 toward her cabin. He felt dizzy and the tears crept up 
 in his eyes, and he forgot the doctor, who looked after 
 him and muttered statements damaging to Dan's sanity. 
 
 All the long night he had fought with himself to keep 
 away, to let the others care for her the others, who 
 fancied they were giving him a wished-for rest. And 
 all the while the desire of his heart was to bar them out 
 to wait, alone with her, for the life or death that was 
 to come. He had walked miles in his restlessness, but 
 could not have found again the paths he walked over. 
 He had talked with some of the people who were wake- 
 ful in the night, but could scarce have told of any words 
 he had said. 
 
 He had felt dazed by the dread of what the new day 
 would bring, and now he looked up at the morning star 
 with a great thankfulness in his heart. The new day 
 had come, and with it a breath of hope. 
 
 Miss Lavina met him at the door, and whispered that 
 the doctor thought the fever had taken the hoped-for 
 turn for the better. 'Tana had opened her eyes but a 
 moment beforehand looked at Miss Slocum wonder- 
 ingly, but fell asleep again; she had looked rational, but 
 very weak. 
 
 "Well, old fellow, I am proud of myself," said Lyster, 
 as Overton entered. "It took Miss Slocum and me only 
 
THROUGH THE NIGHT 213 
 
 one night to bring 'Tana around several degrees nearer 
 health. We are the nurses! And if she only wakes 
 conscious " 
 
 His words, or else the intense, wistful gaze of the 
 man at the foot of the bed, must have aroused her, for 
 she moved and opened her eyes and looked around aim- 
 lessly, passing over the faces of Miss Slocum, of the 
 squaw, and of Overton, until Lyster, close beside her, 
 whispered her name. Then her lips curved ever so little 
 in a smile as her eyes met his. 
 
 "Max!" she said, and put out her hand to him. As 
 his fingers clasped it, she turned her face toward him, 
 and fell contentedly asleep again, with her cheek against 
 his hand. 
 
 And Mr. Haydon, who came in with the doctor a 
 moment later, glanced at the picture they made, and 
 smiled meaningly at Overton. 
 
 "You see, I was right," he observed. "And do you 
 not think it would be a very exacting guardian who could 
 object?" 
 
 Overton only looked at Max, whose face had flushed 
 a little, knowing how significant his attitude must ap- 
 pear to others. But his hand remained in hers, and his 
 eyes turned to Dan with a half embarrassed confession 
 in them a confession Dan read and understood. 
 
 'Yes, you may well be proud, Max," he said, answer- 
 ing Lyster's words. "You deserve all gratitude; and I 
 hope I hope nothing but good luck will come your 
 way." 
 
 Mr. Haydon, who watched him with critical eyes, 
 could read nothing in his words but kindliest concern 
 for a friend. 
 
2U THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 The doctor, who had suddenly got a ridiculous idea 
 in his head that Dan Overton was wearing himself out 
 on 'Tana's account, changed his mind and silently called 
 himself a fool. He might have known Dan had more 
 sense than that. Yet, what was it that had changed him 
 so? 
 
 Twenty-four hours later he thought hs knew. 
 
MISS SLOCUM ON DEPORTMENT 215 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. % 
 
 MISS SLOCUM'S IDEAS REGARDING DEPORTMENT. 
 
 "So it was a gold mine that dragged you people up 
 into this wilderness? Well, I've puzzled my mind a 
 good deal to understand your movements lately; but 
 the finding of a vein as rich as your free gold promises 
 is enough to turn any man's head for a while. Well, 
 well; you are a lucky fellow, Overton." 
 
 "Yes, I've no doubt that between good luck and bad 
 luck, I've as much luck as anybody," answered Overton, 
 with a grimace, "but a week or so ago you did not think 
 me lucky you thought me 'looney.' ' 
 
 "You are more than half right," agreed the doctor; 
 "appearances justified me. My wife and I stormed at 
 you behind your back for carrying 'Tana with you 
 on your fishing trip ; it was such an unheard-of thing to 
 my folks, you know. Humph ! I wonder what they will 
 say when it is known that she was on a prospecting trip, 
 and that the venture will result in a gain to her of dol- 
 lars that will be counted by the tens of thousands. By 
 George! it seems incredible! Just like a chapter from 
 the old fairy tales." 
 
 "Yes. I find myself thinking about it like that some- 
 times," said Overton ; "a little afraid to lay plans, for 
 fear that after all it may be a dream. I never hoped much 
 for it; I came under protest, and the luck seems more 
 than I deserved." 
 
216 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "Maybe that is the reason you accept it in such a 
 sulky fashion," observed the doctor, "for, upon my soul, 
 I think I am more elated over your good fortune than 
 you are. You don't appear to get up a particle of enthu- 
 siasm because of it." 
 
 "Well, I have not had an enthusiastic lot of partners, 
 either. Harris, here, not able to move; 'Tana not ex- 
 pected to live; and I suddenly face to face with all this 
 responsibility for them. It gave me considerable to 
 think about." 
 
 "You are right. I only wonder you are not gray- 
 haired. A new gold-field waiting for you to make it 
 known, and you guarding it at the same time, perhaps, 
 from red tramps who come spying around. But you 
 are lucky, Dan ; everything comes your way, even a 
 capitalist ready at your word to put up money on the 
 strength of the ore you have to show. Why, man, many 
 a poor devil of a prospector has stood a long siege with 
 starvation, even with gold ore in sight, just because no 
 one with capital would buy or back him." 
 
 "I know. I realize that; and, for the sake of the 
 other two, I am very glad there need be no waiting for 
 profits." 
 
 "Do you know, Dan, I fancy little 'Tana is in the way 
 of being well cared for, even without this good fortune," 
 observed the doctor, looking at the other in a question- 
 ing way. "It just occurred to me yesterday that that 
 fine young fellow, Lyster, is uncommonly fond of her. 
 It may be simply because she is ill, and he is sorry for 
 her; but his devotion appeared to me to have a senti- 
 mental tinge, and I thought what a fine thing it would 
 be." 
 
MISS SLOCUM ON DEPORTMENT 217 
 
 "Very," agreed Overton; "and you are sentimental 
 enough yourself to plan it all out for them. I guess 
 Hay don helped to put that notion into your head, didn't 
 he?" 
 
 The doctor laughed. 
 
 "Well, yes, he did speak of Lyster's devotion to your 
 protegee," he acknowledged; "and you think we are a 
 couple of premature match-makers, don't you?" 
 
 "I think maybe you had better leave it for 'Tana to 
 decide," answered Overton, "and I also think schools 
 will be the first thing considered by her. She is very 
 young, you know." 
 
 "Seventeen, perhaps," hazarded the doctor; but Over- 
 ton did not reply. 
 
 He was watching the canoe just launched by their 
 Indian boatmen. They were to take Mr. Haydon back 
 again to the Ferry. He was to send up workmen, and 
 Overton was to manage the work for the present or, at 
 least, until Mr. Seldon could arrive and organize the 
 work of developing the vein that Mr. Haydon had 
 found was of such exceeding richness that his offer 
 to the owners had been of corresponding magnitude. 
 Overton had promptly accepted the terms offered; Har- 
 ris agreed to them ; and even if 'Tana should not, Dan 
 decided that out of his own share he could make up 
 any added sum desired by her for her share, though he 
 had little idea that she would find fault with his arrange- 
 ments. She ! who had thought, that day of the gold find, 
 that it was better to have their little camp unshared by 
 the many whom gold would bring to them that it was 
 almost better to be poor than to have their happy life 
 changed. 
 
 And it was all over now. Other people had come and 
 
218 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 were close about her, while he had not seen her since 
 the morning before, when she had awakened and turned 
 to Max. Well, he should be satisfied, so he told himself. 
 She was going to get well again. She was going to be 
 happy. More wealth than they had hoped for had come 
 to her, and with it she would, of course, leave the hills, 
 would go into the life of the cities, and by and by would 
 be glad to forget the simple, primitive life they had 
 shared for the few days of one Kootenai summer. Well, 
 she would be happy. 
 
 And here on the spot where their pretty camp had 
 been, he would remain. No thought of leaving came 
 to him. It would all be changed, of course; men and 
 machinery would spoil all the beauty of their wilderness. 
 But as yet no plan for his own future had occurred to 
 him. That he himself had wealth sufficient to secure 
 him from all toil and that a world of pleasure was within 
 his reach, did not seem to touch him with any alluring 
 sense. He was going to remain until the vein of the 
 Twin Springs had a big hole made in it; and the rich 
 soil of the old river he had staked out as a reserve for 
 himself and his partners, to either work or sell. Through 
 his one-sided conversations with Harris he learned that 
 he, too, wanted to remain in the camp where their gold 
 had been found. Doctors, medicines, luxuries, could be 
 brought to him, but he would remain. 
 
 Mrs. Huzzard had at once been offered a sum that in 
 her eyes was munificent, for the express purpose of 
 managing the establishment of the partners when it 
 was built. Until then she was to draw her salary, and 
 act as either nurse or cook in the rude dwellings that 
 for the present had to satisfy all their dreams of luxury. 
 
 An exodus from Sinna Ferry was expected; many 
 
MISS SLOCUM ON DEPORTMENT 
 
 changes were to be made; and Overton and the doctor 
 went down to the canoe to give final directions to their 
 Indian messenger. 
 
 Lyster'was there, too, with a most exhausting list of 
 articles which Mr. Haydon was to send up from Helena. 
 
 "Dan, some of these things I put down for 'Tana, as 
 I happened to think of them," he said, and unfolded a 
 little roll made from the leaves of a note-book stuck to- 
 gether at the ends with molasses. "You look it over 
 and see if it's all right. I left one sheet empty for any- 
 thing you might want to add." 
 
 Dan took it, eying dubiously the length of it and the 
 great array of articles mentioned. 
 
 "I don't think I had better add anything to it until 
 heavier boats are carrying freight on the Kootenai," he 
 remarked, and then commenced reading aloud some of 
 the items : 
 
 Eiderdown pillows. 
 
 Rugs and hammocks. 
 
 A guitar. 
 
 Hot water bottle. 
 
 Some good whisky. 
 
 Toilet soap. 
 
 Bret Harte's Poems. 
 
 A traveling dress for a girl. (Here followed measure- 
 ments and directions to the dressmaker.) Then the 
 whole was scratched out, and the following was sub- 
 stituted: Brown flannel or serge nine yards. 
 
 "I had to get Mrs. Huzzard to tell me some of the 
 things," said Lyster, who looked rather annoyed at the 
 quizzical smiles of Dan and the doctor. 
 
 "I should imagine you would," observed Overton. "I 
 would have needed the help of the whole camp to get 
 
220 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 together that amount of plunder. A good shaving set 
 and a pair of cork insoles, No. 8, are they for 'Tana, 
 too?" 
 
 But Lyster disdained reply, and Overton, after read- 
 ing, "All the late magazines," and "A double kettle for 
 cooking oatmeal," folded up the paper and gave it back. 
 
 "As I have read only a very small section of the list, 
 I do not imagine you have omitted anything that could 
 possibly be towed up the river," he said. "But it is all 
 right, my boy. I would never have thought of half that 
 stuff, but I've no doubt they will all be of use, and 'Tana 
 will thank you/' 
 
 "How soon do you expect she will be able to walk, 
 or be moved ?" asked Mr. Haydon of the doctor. 
 
 "Oh, in two or three weeks, if nothing interferes with 
 her promised recovery. She is a pretty sick girl; but 
 I think her good constitution will help her on her feet 
 by that time." 
 
 "And by that time I will be back here," said Haydon, 
 addressing Lyster. 
 
 He took a sealed envelope from an inner pocket and 
 gave it to the young fellow. 
 
 "When she gets well enough to read that, give it to 
 her, Max," he said, in a low tone. "It's something that 
 may surprise her a little, so I trust your discretion as 
 to when she is to see it. From what I hear of her, she 
 must be a rather level-headed, independent little girl. 
 And as I have something to tell her worth her knowing, 
 I have decided to leave the letter. Now, don't look so 
 puzzled. When I come back she will likely tell you what 
 it means, but you may be sure it is no bad news I send 
 her. Will you attend to it?" 
 
 "Certainly. But I don't understand--" 
 
MISS SLOCUM ON DEPORTMENT 221 
 
 "And there is no need for you to understand just 
 yet. Take good care of her, and help Overton in all 
 possible ways to look after our interests here. There 
 will be a great deal to see to until Seldon or I can get 
 back." 
 
 "Oh, Dan is a host in himself," said Lyster. "He 
 won't want me in his way when it comes to managing 
 his men. But I can help Flap-Jacks carry water, or 
 help old Akkomi smoke, for he comes here each day for 
 just that purpose that and his dinner so never fear 
 but that I will make myself useful." 
 
 Miss Slocum from the cabin doorway the door was 
 a blanket watched the canoe skim down the little 
 stream, and sighed dolefully when it disappeared en- 
 tirely. 
 
 "Now, Lavina," remonstrated Mrs. Huzzard, "I do 
 hope that you ain't counting on making part of the next 
 load that leaves here; for now that you have got here, 
 I'd hate the worst kind to lose you. Gold mines are 
 fine things to live alongside of, I dare say; but I crave 
 some human beings within hail yes, indeed." 
 
 "Exactly my own feelings, Cousin Lorena," admitted 
 Miss Slocum, "and I regret the departure of any mem- 
 ber of our circle all except the Indians. I really do not 
 think that any amount of living among them would 
 teach me to feel lonely at their absence. And that dread- 
 ful Akkomi!" 
 
 "Yes, isn't he a trial? Not that he ever does any 
 harm; but he just keeps a body in mortal dread, for 
 fear he might take a notion to." 
 
 "Yet Mr. Overton seems to think him entirely 
 friendly," 
 
 "Humph! yes. But if 'Tana should pet a rattlesnake, 
 
 15 
 
222 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 Mr. Overton would trust it. That's just how constant 
 he is to his friends." 
 
 "Well, now," said Miss Lavina, with mild surprise 
 in her tone, "I really have seen nothing in his man- 
 ner that would indicate any extreme liking for the girl, 
 though she is his ward. Now, that bright young gentle- 
 man, Mr. Lyster " 
 
 "Tut, tut, Lavina! Max Lyster is all eyes and hands 
 for her just now. He will fan her and laugh with her; 
 but it will be Dan who digs for her and takes the weight 
 of her care on his shoulders, even if he never says a word 
 about it. That is just Dan Overton's way." 
 
 "And a very fine way it is, Lorena," said Miss Slocum, 
 while her eyes wandered out to where he stood talking 
 to Lyster. "I've met many men of fine manners in my 
 time, but I never was more impressed at first sight by 
 any person than by him when he conducted me personally 
 to you on my arrival. The man had never heard my 
 name before, yet he received me as if this camp had been 
 arranged on purpose for my visit, and that he himself 
 had been expecting me. If that did not contain the very 
 essence of fine manners, I never saw any, Lorena Jane." 
 
 "I I s'pose it does, Lavina," agreed Mrs. Huzzard; 
 "though I never heard any one go on much about his 
 manners before. And as for me well," and she looked 
 a bit embarrassed, "I ain't the best judge myself. I've 
 had such a terrible hard tussle to make a living since 
 my man died, that I hain't had time to study fine man- 
 ners. I'll have time enough before long, I suppose, for 
 Dan Overton surely has offered me liberal living wages. 
 But, Lavina, even if I did want to learn now, I wouldn't 
 know where to commence." 
 
 "Well, Lorena, since you mention it, there is lots of 
 
MISS SLOCUM ON DEPORTMENT 223 
 
 room for improvement in your general manner. YouVe 
 been with careless people, I suppose, and bad habits are 
 gathered that way. Now I never was much of a genius 
 couldn't trim a bonnet like you to save my life; but 
 I did have a most particular mother; and she held that 
 good manners was a recommendation in any land. So, 
 even if her children had no fortune left them, they were 
 taught to show they had careful bringing up. One of 
 my ideas in coming out here was that I might teach 
 deportment in some Indian school, but not much of that 
 notion is left me. Could I ever teach Flap-Jacks to quit 
 scratching her head in the presence of ladies and gentle- 
 men? No." 
 
 "I don't think," said Mrs. Huzzard, in a meditative 
 way, "that I mind the scratching so much as I do the 
 dratted habit she has of carrying the dish-cloth under 
 her arm when she don't happen to be using it. That just 
 wears on my nerves, it does. But I tell you what it is, 
 Lavina if you are kind of disappointed on account o 
 not getting Indian scholars that suit just yet, I'm more 
 than half willing you should teach me the deportment, 
 if you'd be satisfied with one big white scholar instead 
 of a lot of little red ones." 
 
 "Yes, indeed, and glad to do it," said Miss Slocum, 
 frankly. "Your heart is all right, Lorena Jane; but a 
 warm heart will not make people forget that you lean 
 your elbow on the table and put your food into your 
 mouth with your knife. Such things jar on other people 
 just as Flap-Jacks and the dish-cloth jar on you. Don't 
 you understand ? But your desire to improve shows that 
 you are a very remarkable woman, Lorena, for very few 
 people are willing to learn new habits after having fol- 
 lowed careless ones for forty years." 
 
224 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "Thirty-nine," corrected Lorena Jane, showing that, 
 however peculiar and remarkable her wisdom might be 
 in some directions, it did not prevent a natural womanly 
 feeling regarding the number of years she had lived. 
 
 "You see," she continued, after a little, as Miss Lavina 
 kept a discreet silence, "this here gold fever is catching; 
 and if any one gets started on the right track, there is 
 no telling what day he may stumble over a fortune. One 
 might come my way or yours, Lavina. And, just as 
 you say, fine manners is a heap of help in sassiety. And 
 thinking of it that way makes me feel I'd like to be pre- 
 pared to enjoy, in first-class style, any amount of money 
 I might get a chance at up here. For I tell you what 
 it is, Lavina, this Western land is a woman's country. 
 Her chances in most things are always as good, and 
 mostly better than a man's." 
 
 "Yes, if she does not die from fright at the creepy looks 
 of the friendly Indians," said Miss Slocum, with a 
 shivering breath. "I have not slept sound for a single 
 minute since I saw that old smoking wretch who never 
 seems a rod from this cabin. Now down there at Sinna 
 Ferry I thought it might be kind of nice, though we 
 stopped only a little while, and I was not up in the street. 
 Any real genteel people there?" 
 
 "Well yes, there is," answered Lorena Jane, after 
 a slight hesitation as to just how much it would be wise to 
 say of the genteel gentleman who resided in Sinna Ferry, 
 and was in her eyes a model of culture and disdainful 
 superiority. Indeed, that disdain of his had been a first 
 cause in her desire to reach the state of polish he him- 
 self enjoyed to rise above the vulgar level of manners 
 that had of old seemed good enough to her. "Yes, there 
 is some high-toned folks there; the doctor's wife and 
 
MISS SLOCUM ON DEPORTMENT 225 
 
 family, for one; and then there is a very genteel man 
 there Captain Leek. He is an ex-officer in the late 
 war, you know ; a real military gentleman, with a wound 
 in his leg. Limps some, but not enough to make him 
 awkward. He keeps the postoffice. But if this Gov- 
 ernment looked after its heroes as it ought to, he'd be 
 getting a good pension that's just what he would. I'm 
 too sound a Union woman not to feel riled at times 
 when I see the defenders of the Constitution go unre- 
 warded." 
 
 "Don't say 'riled,' Lorena," corrected Miss Slocum. 
 "You must drop that and 'dratted' and Til swan'; for 
 I don't think you could tell what any of them mean. 
 I couldn't, I'm sure. But I used to know a family of 
 Leeks back in Ohio. They were Democrats, though, 
 and their boys joined the Confederate Army, though I 
 heard they wasn't much good to the cause. But of 
 course it is not likely to be one of them." 
 
 "I should think not," agreed Mrs. Huzzard, stoutly. 
 "I never heard him talk politics much; but I do know 
 that he wears nothing but the Union blue to this day, 
 and always that military sort of hat with a cord around 
 it so so dignified like." 
 
 "No, I did not suppose it could be the one I knew," 
 said her cousin; "the military uniform decides that." 
 
226 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 AWAKENING. 
 
 "Flap-Jacks," said 'Tana, softly, so as to reach no 
 ear but that of the squaw, who came in from Harris 5 
 cabin to find the parasol of Miss Slocum, who was about 
 to walk in the sunshine. To the red creature of the 
 forest this parasol seemed the most wonderfully beauti- 
 ful thing of all the strange things which the white 
 squaws made use of. "Flap-Jacks, are they gone?" 
 
 Three weeks had gone by, three weeks of miraculous 
 changes in the beauty of their wild nook along the trail 
 of the old river. 
 
 "Twin Springs," the place was called now Twin 
 Spring Mines. Already men were at work on the new 
 lode, and doing placer digging for the free gold in the 
 soil. Wooden rails were laid to the edge of the stream, 
 and over it the small, rude car was pushed with the new 
 ore down to a raft on which a test load had been drifted 
 to the immense crusher at the works on Lake Kootenai. 
 And the test had resulted so favorably that the new 
 strike at Twin Springs was considered by far the rich- 
 est one of the year. 
 
 Through all the turbulence that swept up the little 
 stream to their camp, two of the discovering party were 
 housed, sick and silent, in the little double cabin. The 
 doctor could see no reason why 'Tana was so slow in 
 her recovery; he had expected so much more of her 
 
AWAKENING 227 
 
 that she would be carried into health again by the very 
 force of her ambition, and her eager delight in the pros- 
 pects which her newly acquired wealth was opening up 
 to her. 
 
 But puzzling to relate, she showed no eagerness at all 
 about it. Her ambitions, if she had any, were asleep, 
 and she scarcely asked a question concerning all the 
 changes of life and people around her. Listless she lay 
 from one day to another, accepting the attention of peo- 
 ple indifferently. Max would read to her a good deal, 
 and several times she asked to be carried into the cabin 
 of Harris, where she would sit for hours talking to him, 
 sometimes in a low voice and then again sitting close 
 beside him in long silences, which, strangely enough, 
 seemed more of companionship to her than the presence 
 of people who laughed and talked. They wearied her 
 at times. When she was able to walk out, she liked to 
 go alone; even Max she had sent back when he fol- 
 lowed her. 
 
 But she never went far. Sometimes she would sit 
 for an hour by the stream, watching the water slip past 
 the pebbles and the grasses> and on to its turbulent jour- 
 ney toward a far-off rest in the Pacific. And again, she 
 would watch some strange miner dig and wash the soil 
 in his search for the precious "yellow." But her walks 
 were ever within the limits of the busy diggings; all 
 her old fondness for the wild places seemed sleeping 
 like her ambitions. 
 
 "She needs change now. Get her away from here/' 
 advised the doctor, who no longer felt that she needed 
 medicines, but who could not, with all his skill, build 
 her up again into the daring, saucy Tana, who had 
 
228 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 won the game of cards from the captain that night at 
 the select party at Sinna Ferry. 
 
 But when Overton, after much hesitation, broached 
 the subject of her going away, she did look at him with 
 a touch of the old defiance in her face, and after a bit 
 said: 
 
 "I guess the camp will have to be big enough foi 
 you and me, too, a few days longer. I haven't made up 
 my mind as to when I want to go." 
 
 "But the summer will not last long, now. You must 
 commence to think of 'where you want to go ; for when 
 the cold weather comes, 'Tana, you can't remain here." 
 
 "I can if I want to," she answered. 
 
 After one troubled, helpless look at her pale face, 
 he walked out of the cabin ; and Lyster, who had wanted 
 to aslv the result of the interview, could not find him 
 all that evening. He had gone somewhere alone, up on 
 the mountain. 
 
 She had answered him with a great deal of cool in- 
 difference; but when the two cousins entered her room, 
 she was on the bed with her face buried in the pillows, 
 weeping in an uncontrollable manner that filled them 
 with dismay. The doctor decided that while Dan was 
 a good fellow in most ways, he evidently had not a sooth- 
 ing influence on 'Tana, possibly not realizing the changed 
 mental condition laid on her by her sickness. The doc- 
 tor further made up his mind that, without hurting Dan's 
 feelings, he must find some other mouthpiece for his 
 ideas concerning her or reason with her himself. 
 
 But, so far, she would only say she was not ready to 
 go yet. Dan, wishing to make her stay comfortable as 
 possible, went quietly to all the settlements within reach 
 for luxuries in the way of house-furnishing, and had 
 
AWAKENING 229 
 
 Mrs. Huzzard use them in 'Tana's cabin. But when he 
 had done all this, she never asked a question as to 
 where the comforts came from she, who, a short month 
 before, had valued each kind glance received from him. 
 
 Mrs. Huzzard was sorely afraid that it was pride, the 
 pride of newly acquired wealth, that changed her from 
 the gay, saucy girl into a moody, dreamy being, who 
 would lie all alone for hours and not notice any of 
 them coming and going. The good soul had many a 
 heartache over it all, never guessing that it was an 
 ache and a shame in the heart of the girl that made the 
 new life that was given her seem a thing of little value. 
 
 Tana had watched the squaw wistfully at times, as 
 if expecting her to say something to her when the others 
 were not around, but she never did. When 'Tana heard 
 the ladies ask Lyster to go with them to a certain place 
 where beautiful mosses were to be found, she waited with 
 impatience until their voices left the door. 
 
 The squaw shook her head when asked in that whisper- 
 ing way of their departure ; but when she had carried out 
 the parasol and watched the party disappear beyond the 
 numerous tents now dotting the spaces where the grass 
 grew rank only a month before, then she slipped back 
 and stood watchful and silent inside the door. 
 
 "Come close," said the girl, motioning with a certain 
 nervousness to her. She was not the brave, indifferent 
 little girl she had been of old. "Come close some one 
 might listen, somewhere. I've been so sick I've dreamed 
 so many things that I can't tell some days what is dream 
 and what is true. I lie here and think and think, but it 
 will not come clear. Listen ! I think sometimes you 
 and I hunted for tracks a white man's tracks across 
 there where the high ferns are. You showed them to me, 
 
230 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 and then we came back when the moon shone, and it 
 was light like day, and I picked white flowers. Some 
 days I think of it of the tracks, long, slim tracks, with 
 the boot heel. Then my head hurts, and I think maybe 
 we never found the tracks, maybe it is only a dream, like 
 like other things !" 
 
 She did not ask if it were so, but she leaned forward 
 with all of eager question in her eyes. It was the first 
 time she had shown strong interest in anything. But, 
 having aroused from her listlessness to speak of the 
 ghosts of fancy haunting her, she seemed quickened to 
 anxiety by the picture her own words conjured up. 
 
 "Ah! those tracks in the black mud and that face 
 above the ledge !" 
 
 "It is true," said the squaw, "and not a dream. The 
 track of the white man was there, and the moon was in 
 the sky, as you say." 
 
 "Ah!" and the evidently unwelcome truth made her 
 clench her fingers together despairingly; she had hoped 
 so that it was a dream. The truth of it banished her 
 lethargy, made her think as nothing else had. "Ah! it 
 was so, then; and the face the face was real, was " 
 
 "I saw no face," said the squaw. 
 
 "But I did yes, I did," she muttered. "I saw it like 
 the face of a white devil !" 
 
 Then she checked herself and glanced at the Indian 
 woman, whose dark, heavy face appeared so stupid. 
 Still, one never could tell by the looks of an Indian how 
 much or how little he knows of the thing you want to 
 know; and after a moment's scrutiny, the girl asked: 
 
 "Did you learn more of the tracks? learn who the 
 white man was that made them?" 
 
 The woman shook her head. 
 
AWAKENING 231 
 
 "You sick much sick," she explained. "All time 
 Dan he say: 'Stay here by white girl's bed. Never 
 leave.' So I not get out again, and the rain come wash 
 all track away." 
 
 "Does Dan know? did you tell him?" 
 
 "No, Dan never ask never talk to me, only say, Take 
 care Tana/ that all." 
 
 The girl asked no more, but lay there on her couch, 
 filled with dry moss and covered with skins of the moun- 
 tain wolf. Her eyes closed as though she were asleep; 
 but the squaw knew better, and after a little, she said 
 doubtfully : 
 
 "Maybe Akkomi know." 
 
 "Akkomi !" and the eyes opened wide and slant. "That 
 is so. I should have remembered. But oh, all the 
 thoughts in my brain have been so muddled. You have 
 heard something, then ? Tell me." 
 
 "Not much only little," answered the squaw. "That 
 night late that night, a white stranger reached Akkomi's 
 tent, to sleep. No one else of the tribe got to see him, 
 so the word is. Kawaka heard on the river, and it was 
 that night." 
 
 "And then? Where did the stranger go?" 
 
 The squaw shook her head. 
 
 "Me not know. Kawaka not hear. But I thought 
 of the track. Now many white men make tracks, and one 
 no matter." 
 
 "Akkomi," and the thoughts of the girl went back 
 to the very first she could remember of her recovery; 
 and always, each day, the face of Akkomi had been near 
 her. He had not talked, but would look at her a little 
 while with his sharp, bead-like eyes, and then betake 
 himself to the sunshine outside her door, where he would 
 
232 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 smoke placidly for hours and watch the restless Anglo- 
 Saxon in his struggle to make the earth yield up its 
 riches. 
 
 Each day Akkomi had been there, and she had not 
 once aroused herself to question why; but she would. 
 
 Rising, she passed out and looked right and left; but 
 no blanketed brave met her gaze. Only Kawaka, the 
 husband of Flap- Jacks, worked about the canoes by the 
 water. Then she entered Harris* cabin, where the sight 
 of his helpless form, and his welcoming smile, made 
 her halt, and drop down on the rug beside him. She 
 had forgotten him so much of late, and she touched his 
 hand remorsefully. 
 
 "I feel as if I had just got awake, Joe," she said, and 
 stretched out her arms, as though to drive away the 
 last vestige of sleep. "Do you know how that feels? 
 To lie for days, stupid as a chilled snake, and then, all 
 at once, to feel the sun creeping around where you are 
 and warming you until you begin to wonder how you 
 could have slept so many days away. Well, just now I 
 feel almost well again. I did not think I would get well ; 
 I did not care. All the days I lay in there I wished 
 they would just let me be, and throw their medicines 
 in the creek. I think, Joe, that there are times when 
 people should be allowed to die, when they grow tired 
 tired away down in their hearts ; so tired that they don't 
 want to take up the old tussle of living again. It is so 
 much easier to die then than when a person is happy, and 
 and has some one to like them, and " 
 
 She left the sentence unfinished, but he nodded a per^ 
 feet understanding of her thoughts. 
 
 "Yes, you have felt like that, too, I suppose," she 
 continued, after a little. "But now, Joe, they tell me we 
 
AWAKENING 233 
 
 are rich you and Dan and I so rich we ought to be 
 happy, all of us. Are we?" 
 
 He only smiled at her, and glanced at the cozy fur- 
 nishing of his rude cabin. Like 'Tana's, it had been 
 given a complete going over by Overton, and rugs and 
 robes did much to soften its crude wood-work. It had 
 all the luxury obtainable in that district, though even yet 
 the doors were but heavy skins. 
 
 She noticed the look but shook her head. 
 
 "Thick rugs and soft pillows don't make troubles 
 lighter," she said, with conviction ; and then : "Maybe 
 Dan is happy. He he must be. All he thinks of now 
 is the gold ore." 
 
 She spoke so wistfully, and her own eyes looked so 
 far, far from happy, that the face of the man was filled 
 with longing to comfort her the little girl who had 
 tramped so long on a lone trail how lonely none knew 
 so well as he. His fingers closed and unclosed, as i* 
 with the desire to clasp her hand, to make some visible 
 show of friendship. 
 
 She saw the slight movement, and looked up at him 
 with a new interest. 
 
 "Oh, I forgot, Joe ! I never once have asked how you 
 have got along while I have been so sick. Can you use 
 your hands any at all? You could once, a little bit that 
 day the day we found the gold." 
 
 But he shook his head, and just then a step was heard 
 outside, and Lyster looked in. 
 
 A shade of surprise touched his face, as he saw Tana 
 there, with so bright an expression in her eyes. 
 
 "What has Harris been telling you that has aroused 
 you to interest, Tana?" he asked, jestingly. "He has 
 
234: THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 more influence than I, for I have scarcely been able to 
 get you to talk at all." 
 
 "You don't need me; you have Miss Slocum," she 
 answered. "Have you dropped her in the creek and 
 run back to camp? And have you seen Akkomi lately? 
 I want him." 
 
 "Of course you do. The moment I make my appear- 
 ance, you want to get rid of me by sending me for 
 some other man. No, I am happy to say I have not seen 
 that royal loafer for the past hour. And I am more 
 happy still to find that you really want some one any 
 one once more. Do you realize, my dear girl, how very 
 many days it is since you have condescended to want 
 anything on this earth of ours? Won't you accept me 
 as a substitute for Akkomi?" 
 
 "I don't want you." 
 
 But her eyes smiled on him kindly, and he did not 
 believe her. 
 
 "Perhaps not; but won't you pretend you do for a 
 little while, long enough to come with me for a little 
 walk or else to talk to me in your cabin?" 
 
 "To talk to you? I don't think I can talk much to 
 any one yet. I just told Joe I feel as if I was only waking 
 up." 
 
 "So I see; that is the reason I am asking an audi- 
 ence. I will do the talking, and it need not be a very 
 long talk, if you are too tired." 
 
 "I believe I will go," she said, at last. "I was think- 
 ing it would be nice to float in a canoe again just to 
 float lazy on the current. Can't we do that?" 
 
 "Nothing easier," he answered, entirely delighted that 
 she was again more like the 'Tana of two months before. 
 She seemed to him a little paler and a little taller, but 
 
AWAKENING 
 
 as they walked together to the canoe, he felt that they 
 would again come to the old chummy days of Sinna 
 Ferry, when they quarreled and made up as regularly as 
 the sun rose and set. 
 
 "Well, why don't you talk?" she asked, as their little 
 craft drifted away from the tents and the man who 
 washed the soil by the spring run. "What did you do 
 with the women folks?" 
 
 "Gave them to Overton. They concluded not to risk 
 their precious selves with me, when they discovered that 
 he, for a wonder, was disengaged. Really and truly, that 
 angular schoolmistress will make herself Mrs. Overton 
 if he is not careful. She flatters him enough to spoil 
 an average man; looks at him with so much respectful 
 awe, you know, though she never does say much to 
 him." 
 
 "Saves her breath to drill Mrs. Huzzard with," ob- 
 served the girl, dryly. "That poor, dear woman has a 
 bee in her muddled old head, and the bee is Captain 
 Leek and his fine manners. I can see it, plain as day. 
 Bless her heart! I hear her go over and over words 
 that she always used to say wrong, and she does 
 eat nicer than she used to. Humph! I wonder if Dan 
 Overton will take as kindly to being taught, when the 
 school-teacher begins with him." 
 
 There was a mirthless, unlovely smile about her lips, 
 %nd Lyster reached over and clasped her hand coaxingly. 
 ' 'Tana, what has changed you so ?" he asked. "Is it 
 your sickness is it the gold or what, that makes you 
 turn from your old friends? Dan never says a word, 
 but I notice it. You never talk to him, and he has 
 almost quit going to your cabin at all, though he would 
 
236 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 do anything for you, I know. My dear, you will find 
 few friends like him in the world." 
 
 "Oh, don't don't bother me about him," she answered, 
 irritably. "He is all right, of course. But I" 
 
 Then she stopped, and with a determined air turned 
 the subject. 
 
 "You said you had something to talk to me about. 
 What was it?" 
 
 "You don't know how glad I am to hear you speak 
 as you used to," he said, looking at her kindly. "I 
 would be rejoiced even to get a scolding from you these 
 days. But that was not exactly what I brought you 
 out to tell you, either," and he drew from his pocket 
 the letter he had carried for three weeks, waiting until 
 she appeared strong enough to accept surprises. "I 
 suppose, of course, you have heard us talk a good deal 
 about the Eastern capitalist who was here when you 
 were so sick, and who, unhesitatingly, made purchase 
 of the Twin Spring Mines, as it is called now." 
 
 "You mean the very fine Mr. Haydon, who had curly 
 hair and looked like me?" she asked, ironically. "Yes, 
 I've heard the women folks talking about him a good 
 deal, when they thought me asleep. Old Akkomi scared 
 him a little, too, didn't he?" 
 
 "So, you have heard?" he asked, in surprise. "Well, 
 yes, he does look a little like you; it's the hair, I think. 
 But I don't see why you utter his name with so much 
 contempt, 'Tana." 
 
 "Maybe not; but I've heard the name of Haydon be- 
 fore to-day, and I have a grudge against it." 
 
 "But not this Haydon." 
 
 "I don't know which Haydon. I never saw any of 
 
AWAKENING 237 
 
 them don't know as I want to. I guess this one is 
 almost too fine for Kootenai country people, anyway." 
 
 "But that is where you are wrong, entirely wrong, 
 'Tana," he hastened to explain. "He was very much 
 interested in you very much, indeed; asked lots of 
 questions about you, and and here is what I wanted 
 to speak of. When he went away, he gave me this 
 letter for you. I imagine he wants to help make ar- 
 rangements for you when you go East, have you know 
 nice people and all that. You see, 'Tana, his daughter 
 is about your age, and looks just a little as you do some- 
 times ; and I think he wants to do something for you. It's 
 an odd thing for him to take so strong an interest in any 
 stranger; but they are the very best people you could 
 possibly know if you go to Philadelphia." 
 
 "Maybe if you would let me see the letter myself, I 
 could tell better whether I wanted to know them or 
 not," she said, and Lyster handed it to her without 
 another word. 
 
 It was a rather long letter, two closely- written sheets, 
 and he could not understand the little contemptuous 
 smile with which she opened it. Haydon, the great 
 financier, had seemed to him a very wonderful personage 
 when he was 'Tana's age. 
 
 The girl was not so indifferent as she tried to appear. 
 Her fingers trembled a little, though her mouth grew 
 set and angry as she read the carefully kind words 
 of Mr. Haydon. 
 
 "It is rather late in the day for them to come with 
 offers to help me," she said, bitterly. "I can help myself 
 now ; but if they had looked for me a year ago two or 
 three years ago " 
 
 "Looked for you!" he exclaimed, with a sort of im- 
 
 16 
 
238 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 patient wonder. "Why, my dear girl, who would even 
 think of hunting for little white girls in these forests? 
 Don't be foolishly resentful now that people want to be 
 nice to you. You could not expect attention from people 
 before they were aware of your existence." 
 
 "But they did know of my existence!" she answered, 
 curtly. "Oh! you needn't stare at me like that, Mr. 
 Max Lyster! I know what I'm talking about. I have 
 the very shaky honor of being a relation of your fine 
 gentleman from the East. I thought it when I heard 
 the name, but did not suppose he would know it. And 
 I'm not too proud of it, either, as you seem to think I 
 ought to be." 
 
 "But they are one of our best families " 
 
 "Then your worst must be pretty bad," she interrupted. 
 "I know just about what they are." 
 
 "But 'Tana how does it come " 
 
 "I won't answer any questions about it, Max, so don't 
 ask," and she folded up the letter and tore it into very 
 little pieces, which she let fall into the water. "I am 
 not going to claim the relationship or their hospitality, 
 and I would just as soon you forgot that I acknowledged 
 it. I didn't mean to tell, but that letter vexed me." 
 
 "Look here, 'Tana," and Lyster caught her hand 
 again. "I can't let you act like this. They can be of 
 much more help to you socially than all your money. If 
 the family are related to you, and offer you attention, 
 you can't afford to ignore it. You do not realize now how 
 much their attention will mean; but when you are older, 
 you will regret losing it. Let me advise you let me " 
 
 "Oh, hush!" she said, closing her eyes, wearily. * r l 
 am tired tired! What difference does it make to you 
 why need you care?" 
 
AWAKENING 239 
 
 "May I tell you?" and he looked at her so strangely, 
 so gravely, that her eyes opened in expectation of she 
 knew not what. 
 
 "I did not mean to let you know so soon, Tana," 
 and his clasp of her hand grew closer ; "but, it is true 
 I love you. Everything that concerns you makes a dif- 
 ference to me. Now do you understand?" 
 
 "You ! Max " 
 
 "Don't draw your hand away. Surely you guessed 
 a little? I did not know myself how much I cared 
 till you came so near dying. Then I knew I could not 
 bear to let you go. And and you care a little too, don't 
 you ! Speak to me !" 
 
 "Let us go home," she answered in a low voice, and 
 tried to draw her fingers away. She liked him yes; 
 but 
 
 "Tana, won't you speak ? Oh, my dear, dear one, when 
 you were so ill, so very ill, you knew no one else, but 
 you turned to me. You went asleep with your cheek 
 against my hand, and more than once, 'Tana, with your 
 hand clasping mine. Surely that was enough to make 
 me hope for you did like me a little, then." 
 
 "Yes, I- liked you," but she turned her head away, 
 that he could not see her flushed face. "You were good 
 to me, but I did not know I could not guess " and she 
 broke down as though about to cry, and his own eyes 
 were full of tenderness. She appealed to him now as she 
 had never done in her days of brightness and laughter. 
 
 "Listen to me," he said, pleadingly. "I won't worry 
 you. I know you are too weak and ill to decide yet about 
 your future. I don't ask you to answer me now. Wait. 
 Go to school, as I know you intend to do ; but don't for- 
 get me. After the school is over you can decide. I will 
 
240 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 wait with all patience. I would not have told you now, 
 but I wanted you to know I was interested in the answer 
 you would give Haydon. I wanted you to know that I 
 would not for the world advise you, but for your best 
 interests. Won't you believe " 
 
 "I believe you; but I don't know what to say to you. 
 You are different from me your people are different. 
 And of my people you know nothing, nothing at all, 
 and" 
 
 "And it makes no difference," he interrupted. "I know 
 you have had a lot of trouble for a little girl, or your 
 family have had trouble you are sensitive about. I don't 
 know what it is, but it makes no difference not a bit. 
 I will never question about it, unless you prefer to tell of 
 your own accord. Oh, my dear! if some day you could 
 be my wife, I would help you forget all your childish 
 troubles and your unpleasant life." 
 
 "Let us go home/' she said, "you are good to me, but 
 I am so tired." 
 
 He obediently turned the canoe, and at that moment 
 voices came to them from toward the river ringing 
 voices of men. 
 
 "It is possibly Mr. Haydon and others," he exclaimed, 
 after listening a moment. "We have been expecting 
 them for days. That was why I could no longer put off 
 giving you the letter." 
 
 "I know," she said, and her face flushed and paled a 
 little, as the voices came closer. He could see she nerv- 
 ously dreaded the meeting. 
 
 "Shall I get the canoe back to camp before they come ?" 
 he asked kindly; but she shook her head. 
 
 "You can't, for they move fast," she answered, as she 
 
AWAKENING 24.1 
 
 listened. "They would see us; and, if he is with them, 
 he would think I was afraid." 
 
 He let the canoe drift again, and watched her moody 
 face, which seemed to grow more cold with each moment 
 that the strangers came closer. He was filled with sur- 
 prise at all she had said of Haydon and of the letter. 
 Who would have dreamed that she the little Indian- 
 dressed guest of Akkomi's camp would be connected 
 with the most exclusive family he knew in the East? 
 The Haydon family was one he had been especially in- 
 terested in only a year ago, because of Mr. Haydon's 
 very charming daughter. Miss Haydon, however, had 
 a clever and ambitious mamma, who persisted in keeping 
 him at a safe distance. 
 
 Max Lyster, with his handsome face and unsettled 
 prospects, was not the brilliant match her hopes aspired 
 to. Pretty Margaret Haydon had, in all obedience, re- 
 fused him dances and affected not to see his efforts to be 
 near her. But he knew she did see; and one little bit of 
 comfort he had taken West with him was the fancy 
 that her refusals were never voluntary affairs, and that 
 she had looked at him as he had never known her to 
 look at another man. 
 
 Well, that was a year ago, and he had just asked an- 
 other girl to marry him a girl who did not look at him 
 at all, but whose eyes were on the swift-flowing current 
 troubled eyes, that made him long to take care of her. 
 
 'Won't you speak to me at all?" he asked. "I wih 
 do anything to help you, Tana anything at all." 
 
 She nodded her head slowly. 
 
 "Yes now," she answered. "So would Mr. Haydon, 
 Max." 
 
242 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 " 'Tana ! do you mean " His face flushed hotly, and 
 he looked at her for the first time with anger in his face. 
 
 She put out her hand in a tired, pleading way. 
 
 "I only mean that now, when I have been lucky enough 
 to help myself, it seems as if every one thinks I need 
 looking after so much more than they used to. Maybe 
 because I am not strong yet maybe so; I don't know." 
 Then she smiled and looked at him curiously. 
 
 "But I made a mistake when I said 'every one/ didn't 
 I? For Dan never comes near me any more." 
 
 Then the strange canoes came in sight and very close 
 to them, as they turned a bend in the creek. There were 
 three large boats one carrying freight, one filled with 
 new men for the works, and in the other the foremost 
 one was Mr. Haydon, and a tall, thin, middle-aged 
 stranger. 
 
 "Uncle Seldon !" exclaimed Lyster, with animation, 
 and held the canoe still in the water, that the other might 
 come close, and in a whisper he said: 
 
 "The one to the right is Mr. Haydon." 
 
 He glanced at her and saw she was making a painful 
 effort at self-control. 
 
 "Don't worry," he whispered. "We will just speak, 
 and drift on past them." 
 
 But when they called greeting to each other, and the 
 Indian boatman was told to send their craft close to the 
 little camp canoe, she raised her head and looked very 
 levelly across the stranger, who had hair so like her own, 
 and spoke to the Indian who paddled their boat as though 
 he were the only one there to notice. 
 
 "Plucky !" decided Mr. Haydon, "and stubborn ;" but 
 he kept those thoughts to himself, and said aloud: "My 
 dear young lady, I am indeed pleased to see you so far 
 
AWAKENING 243 
 
 recovered since my last visit. I presume you know who 
 I am," and he looked at her in a smiling, confidential 
 way. 
 
 "Yes, I know who you are. Your name is Haydon, 
 and there is a piece of your letter." 
 
 She picked up a fragment of paper that had fallen 
 at her feet, and flung it out from her on the water. Mr. 
 Haydon affected not to see the pettish act, but turned 
 to his companion. 
 
 "Will you allow me, Miss Rivers, to introduce another 
 member of our firm? This is Mr. Seldon. Seldon, this 
 is the young girl I told you of." 
 
 "I knew it before you spoke," said the other man, 
 who looked at her with a great deal of interest, and a 
 great deal of kindness. "My child, I was your mother's 
 friend long ago. Won't you let me be yours ?" 
 
 She reached out her hand to him, and the quick tears 
 came to her eyes. She trusted without question the 
 earnest gray eyes of the speaker, and turned from her 
 own uncle to the uncle of Max. 
 
244 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE MAN IN AKKOMl's CLOAK. 
 
 "My dear fellow, there is, of course, no way of thank- 
 ing you sufficiently for your care of her ; but I can only 
 say I am mighty glad to know a man like you." , 
 
 It was Mr. Seldon who said so, and Dan Overton 
 looked embarrassed and deprecating under the praise 
 he had to accept. 
 
 "It is all right for you to make a fuss over it, Seldon," 
 he returned ; "but you know, as well as you know dinner 
 time, that you would have done no less if you had found 
 a young girl anywhere without a home and especially 
 if you found her in an Indian camp." 
 
 "Did she give you any information as to how she came 
 to be there ?" 
 
 Overton looked at him good-naturedly, but shook his 
 head. 
 
 "I can't give you any information about that," he 
 answered. "If you want to know anything of her pre- 
 vious to meeting her here, she will have to tell you." 
 ' "But she won't. I can't understand it; for I can see 
 no need of mystery. I knew her mother when she was 
 a girl like 'Tana, and" 
 
 "You did?" 
 
 "Yes, I did. So now, perhaps, you will understand 
 why I take such an interest in her why Mr. Haydon 
 takes an interest in her. Simply because she is his niece." 
 
THE MAN IN AKKOMFS CLOAK 245 
 
 "Oh, she is is she? And he came here, found her 
 dying, or next door to it, and never claimed her." 
 
 "No; that is a little way of his," acknowledged his 
 partner. "If she had really died, he never would have 
 said a word about it, for it would have caused him 
 a lot of troublesome explanation at home. But I guess 
 he knew I would be likely to come across her. She is 
 the very image of what her mother was. He told me the 
 whole story of how he found her here, and all. And 
 now he wants to do the proper thing and take her home 
 with him." 
 
 "The devil he does !" growled Overton. "Well, why do 
 you come to me about it ?" 
 
 "Your influence with her was one thing," answered 
 Mr. Seldon, with a dubious smile at the dark face be- 
 fore him. "This prottgte of yours has a will of her 
 own, it seems, and refuses utterly to acknowledge her 
 aristocratic relations, refuses to be a part of her uncle's 
 household; and we want your influence toward chang- 
 ing her mind." 
 
 "Well, you'll never get it," and the tone was decided 
 as the words. "If she says she is no relation to anybody, 
 I'll back her up in it, and not ask her her reasons, either. 
 If she doesn't want to go with Mr. Haydon, she is 
 the only one I will allow to decide, unless he brings a 
 legal order from some court, and I might try to hinder 
 him even then. She willingly came under my guardian- 
 ship, and when she leaves it, it must be willingly." 
 
 "Oh, of course there will be no coercion about the 
 matter," explained Mr. Seldon, hastily. "But don't you, 
 yourself, think it would be a decided advantage for her 
 to live for a while with her own relatives ?" 
 
246 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "I am in no position to judge. I don't know her rela- 
 tives. I don't know why it is that she has not been taken 
 care of by them long ago ; and I am not asking any ques- 
 tions. She knows, and that is enough; and I am sure 
 her reasons for not going would satisfy me." 
 
 "Well, you are a fine specimen to come to for in- 
 fluence," observed the other. "She has a grudge against 
 Haydon, that is the obstacle a grudge, because he quar- 
 reled with her mother long ago. I thought that as you 
 have done so much for her, your word might have weight 
 in showing her the folly of it." 
 
 "My word would have no more weight than yours," 
 he answered, curtly. "All I have done for her amounts 
 to nothing; and I've an idea that if she wanted me to 
 know her fajnily affairs, she would tell me." 
 
 "Which, interpreted, means that I had better be at 
 other business than gossiping," said Mr. Seldon, with 
 much good humor. "Well, you are a fine pair, and some- 
 thing alike, too you goldfinders ! She snubbed Max for 
 trying to persuade her, and you snub me. As a last re- 
 sort, I think I shall try to get that old Indian into our 
 lobbying here. He is her next great friend, I hear." 
 
 "I haven't seen him in camp to-day, for a wonder; 
 but he is sure to be around before night." 
 
 "But, you see, we are to go on up to the new works 
 on the lake to-day, and be back day after to-morrow. I 
 wish you, too, could go up to-morrow, for I would like 
 your judgment about some changes we expect to make. 
 Could you leave here for twenty-four hours?" 
 
 "I'll try," promised Overton. "But the new men from 
 the Ferry will be up to-day or to-morrow, so I may not 
 reach there until you are about ready to start back." 
 
THE MAN IN AKKOMFS CLOAK 247 
 
 "Come anyway, if you can, I don't seem to get much 
 chance to talk to you here in camp maybe I could on the 
 river. You may be in a more reasonable mood about 
 'Tana by that time, and try to influence her to partake 
 of civilization." 
 
 " 'Civilization !' Oh, yes, of course, you imagine it all 
 lies east of the Appalachian range," remarked Over- 
 ton, slightingly. "I expect that from a man of Haydon's 
 stamp, but not from you." 
 
 Seldon only laughed. 
 
 "One would think you had been born and bred out 
 here in the West," he remarked, "while you are really 
 only an importation. But what is that racket about?" 
 
 For screeches were sounding from the cabin cries, 
 feminine and frightened. 
 
 Overton and Seldon started for it, as did several of 
 the workmen, but their haste slackened as they saw 'Tana 
 leaning against a doorway and laughing, while the squaw 
 stood near her, chuckling a little as a substitute for mer- 
 riment. 
 
 But there were two others within the cabin who were 
 by no means merry the two cousins, who were standing 
 huddled together on the couch, uttering spasmodic 
 screeches at every movement made by a little gray snake 
 on the floor. 
 
 It had crept in at a crevice, and did not know how to 
 make its escape from the noisy shelter it had found. Its 
 fright was equal to that of the women, for it appeared 
 decidedly restless, and each uneasy movement of it was 
 a signal for fresh screams. 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Overton ! I beg of you, kill the horrible rep- 
 tile !" moaned Miss Slocum, who at that moment was as 
 indifferent to the proprieties as Mrs. Huzzard, and was 
 
248 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 displaying considerable white hosiery and black gaiter 
 tops. 
 
 "Oh, lawsy! It is coming this way again. Ooh 
 ooh h !" and Mrs. Huzzard did a little dance from one 
 foot to the other, in a very ecstasy of fear. "Oh, Lavina, 
 I'll never forgive myself for advising you to come out 
 to this Idaho country! Oh, Lord! won't somebody 
 kill it?" 
 
 "Why, there is no need to fear that little thing," said 
 Overton. "Really, it is not a snake to bite no more 
 harm in it than in a mouse." 
 
 "A mouse!" they both shrieked. "Oh, please take it 
 away." 
 
 Just then Akkomi came in through the other cabin, 
 and, hearing the shrieks, simply stooped and picked up 
 the little stranger in his hand, holding it that they might 
 see how harmless it was. 
 
 But, instead of pacifying them, as he had kindly in- 
 tended, they only cowered against the wall, too horrified 
 even to scream, while they gazed at the old Indian, as 
 at something just from the infernal regions. 
 
 "Lord, have mercy on our souls," muttered Lavina, 
 m a sepulchral tone, and with pallid, almost moveless, 
 lips. 
 
 "Forever and ever, amen," added Lorena Jane, clutch- 
 ing her drapery a little closer, and a little higher. 
 
 And not until Overton persuaded Akkomi to throw 
 the frightened little thing away did they consent to move 
 from their pedestal. Even then it was with fear and 
 trembling, and many an awful glance toward the placid 
 old Indian, who smoked his pipe and never glanced 
 toward them. 
 
THE MAN IN AKKOMI'S CLOAK 249 
 
 "Never again will I sleep in that room not if I die 
 for it !" announced Mrs. Huzzard, and Miss Slocum was 
 of the same mind. 
 
 "But the cabin is as safe as a tent," said 'Tana, per- 
 suasively, "and, really, it was not a dangerous snake." 
 
 "Ooh h ! I beg that you will not mention it," shiv- 
 ered Miss Slocum. "For my part, I don't expect to sleep 
 anywhere after this terrible experience. But I'll go 
 wherever Lorena Jane goes, and do what I can to com- 
 fort and protect her, while she rests." 
 
 Akkomi sat on Harris' doorstep, and smoked, while 
 they argued on the dangers around them, arid were sat- 
 isfied only when Overton put a tent at their disposal. 
 They proceeded to have hammocks swung in it on poles 
 set for the purpose, as they could feel safe on no bed rest- 
 ing on the ground. 
 
 "But, really, my conscience troubles me about leaving 
 you here alone, 'Tana," said Mrs. Huzzard, and Overton 
 also looked at her as if interested in her comfort. 
 
 "Well, your conscience had better give itself a rest, if 
 that is all it has to disturb it," she answered. "I don't 
 care the least bit about staying alone I rather like it; 
 though, if I need any one, I'll have Flap-Jacks stay." 
 
 So Overton left them to their arrangements, and said 
 nothing to 'Tana ; but as Seldon and Haydon were about 
 to embark, he spoke to the former. 
 
 "I may not be able to get up there after all, as I may 
 feel it necessary to be here at night, so don't wait for me." 
 
 "All right, Overton; but we'd like to have you." 
 
 After the others had left the cabin, Akkomi still re- 
 mained, and the girl watched him uneasily but did not 
 speak. She talked to Harris, telling him of the funny 
 actions of the two frightened women, but all the time she 
 
250 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 talked and tried to entertain the helpless man, it was 
 with an evident effort, for the dark old Indian's face at 
 the door was constantly drawing her attention. 
 
 When she finally entered her own room, he appeared at 
 the entrance, and, after a careful glance, to see that no 
 one was near, he entered and spoke : 
 
 1 'Tana, it is now two suns since we talked. Will you 
 go to-day in my boat for a little ways ?" 
 
 "No," she said, angrily. "Go home to your tepee, 
 Akkomi, and tell the man there I am sorry he is not dead. 
 I never will see him again. I go away from this place 
 now very soon maybe this week. What becomes of 
 him I do not care, and it will be long before I come back." 
 
 He muttered some words of regret, and she turned to 
 him more kindly. 
 
 "Yes, I know, Akkomi, you are my good friend. You 
 think it is right to do what you are doing now. Maybe 
 it is ; maybe I am wrong. But I will not be different in 
 this matter never never !" 
 
 "If he should come here" 
 
 "He would not dare. There are people here he had 
 better fear. Give him the names of Seldon and of Hay- 
 don." 
 
 "He knows; but it is the new miners he fears most; 
 they come from all parts. He wants money." 
 
 "Let him work for it, like an honest man," she said, 
 curtly. "Don't talk of it again. I will not go outside 
 the camp alone, and I will not listen to any more words 
 about it. Now mind that!" 
 
 In the other cabin, Harris listened intently to each 
 word uttered. His eyes fairly blazed in his eagerness 
 to hear 'Tana's final decision. But when Akkomi 
 slouched past his door, and peered in, with his sharp, 
 
THE MAN IN AKKOMI'S CLOAK 251 
 
 quick eyes, he had relapsed again into the apathetic state 
 habitual to him. To all appearances he had not heard 
 their words, and the old Indian walked thoughtfully past 
 the tents and out into the timber. 
 
 Lyster called some light greeting to him, but he barely 
 looked up and made no reply whatever. His thoughts 
 were evidently on other things than camp sociabilities. 
 
 It was dark when he returned, and his fit of thought- 
 fulness was yet upon him, for he spoke to no one. Over- 
 ton, who had been talking to Harris, noticed him smok- 
 ing beside the door as he came out. 
 
 "You had better bring your camp down here/' he re- 
 marked, ironically. "Well, for to-night you will have 
 to spread your blanket in this room if Harris doesn't 
 object. That is what I am to do, for I've given up my 
 quarters to the ladies, who are afraid of snakes." 
 
 Akkomi nodded, and then Overton moved nearer the 
 door again. 
 
 "Jim, I may not be back for an hour or so. I am going 
 either on the water or up on the mountain for a little 
 while. Don't lie awake for me, and I'll send a fellow in 
 to look after you." 
 
 Harris nodded, and 'Tana, in her own room, heard 
 Overton's steps die away in the night. He was going 
 on the water or on the mountains the places she loved 
 to go, and dared not. 
 
 She felt like calling after him to wait to take her with 
 him once more, and did rise and go to the door, 'but no 
 farther. 
 
 Lights were gleaming all along the little stream; 
 laughter and men's voices came to her across the level. 
 Her own corner of the camp looked very dark and 
 
252 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 shadowy in comparison. But she turned back to it with 
 a sigh. 
 
 "You may go, Flap-Jacks," she said to the squaw. 
 "I don't mind being alone, but first fix the bed of 
 Harris." 
 
 She noticed Akkomi outside the door, but did not 
 speak to him. She heard the miner enter the other cabin 
 and assist Harris to his couch and then depart. She 
 wondered a little that the old Indian still sat there smok- 
 ing, instead of spreading his blanket, as Overton had 
 invited him to do. 
 
 A book of poems, presented to her by Lyster, was so 
 engrossing, however, that she forgot the old fellow, until 
 a movement at the door aroused her, and she turned to 
 find the silent smoker inside her cabin. 
 
 But it was not Akkomi, though it was the cloak of 
 Akkomi that fell from his shoulders. 
 
 It was a man dressed as an Indian, but his speech was 
 the speech of a white man, as he frowned on her white, 
 startled face. 
 
 "So, my fine lady, I've found you at last, even if you 
 have got too high and mighty to come when I sent for 
 you," he said, growlingly. "But I'll change your tune 
 very quick for you." 
 
 "Don't forget that I can change yours," she retorted. 
 "A word from me, and you know there is not a man in 
 this camp wouldn't help land you where you belong 
 in a prison, or at the end of a rope." 
 
 "Oh, no," and he grimaced in a sardonic way. "I'm 
 not a bit afraid of that not a bit in the world. You 
 can't afford it. These high-toned friends you've been 
 making might drop off a little if they heard your old 
 record." 
 
THE MAN IN AKKOMI'S CLOAK 253 
 
 "And who made it for me?" she demanded. "You! 
 You've been a curse to every one connected with you. 
 In that other room is a man who might be strong and 
 well to-day but for you. And there is that girl buried 
 over there by the picture rocks of Arrow Lake. Think 
 of my mother, dragged to death through the slums of 
 'Frisco! And me " 
 
 "And you with a gold mine, or the price of one," he 
 concluded "plenty of money and plenty of friends. That 
 is about the facts of your case friends, from million- 
 aires down to that digger I saw you with the other 
 night." 
 
 "Don't you dare say a word against him!" she ex- 
 claimed, threateningly. 
 
 "Oh, that's the way the land lies, is it ?" he asked, with 
 an ugly leer at her. "And that is why you were playing 
 'meet me by moonlight alone/ that night when I saw 
 you together at the spring. Well, I think your money 
 might help you to some one besides a married man." 
 
 "A married man?" she gasped. "Dan!" 
 
 "Dan, it is," he answered, insolently. "But you 
 needn't faint away on that account. I have other use 
 for you I want some money." 
 
 "You are telling that lie about him because you think 
 it will trouble me," she said, regarding his painted face 
 closely and giving no heed to his demand. "You know 
 it is not true." 
 
 "About the marriage? I'll swear " 
 
 "I would not believe your oath for anything." 
 
 "Oh, you wouldn't? Well, now, what if I prove to 
 you, right in this camp, that I know his wife ?" 
 
 "His wife?" She sat down on the side of the couch, 
 and all the cabin seemed whirling around her. 
 
 17 
 
254 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "Well a girl he married. You may call her what 
 you please. She had been called a good many things be- 
 fore he picked her up. Humph! Now that he has 
 struck it rich, some one ought to let her know. She'd 
 make the dollars fly." 
 
 "It is not true! It is not true!" she murmured to her- 
 self, as if by the words she could drive away the pos- 
 sibility of it. 
 
 He appeared to enjoy the sensation he had created. 
 
 "It is true," he answered "every word of it, and he 
 has been keeping quiet about it, has he ? Well, see here. 
 You don't believe me do you? Now, while I was wait- 
 ing there at the door, a man came in to put your para- 
 lyzed partner to bed. The man was Jake Emmons 
 used to hang out at Spokane. He knew Lottie Snyder 
 before this Overton did and after Overton married her, 
 too, I guess. You ask him anything you want to know 
 of it. He can tell you if he will." 
 
 She did not answer. She feared, as he talked, that 
 it was true; and she longed for him to go away, that 
 she could think alone. The hot blood burned in her 
 cheeks, as she remembered that night by the Twin 
 Springs. The humiliation of it, if it proved true! 
 
 "But, see here, Tana. I didn't come here to talk 
 about your virtuous ranger. I want some money 
 enough to cut the country. It ain't any more than fair, 
 anyway, that you divide with me, for if it hadn't been 
 for that sneaking hound in the other room, half of this 
 find would have been mine a year ago." 
 
 "It will do more good where it is," she answered. 
 "He did right not to trust you. And if he were able 
 to walk, you would not be allowed to live many minutes 
 within reach of him." 
 
THE MAN IN AKKOMFS CLOAK 255 
 
 "Oh, yes; I know he was trailing me," he answered, 
 indifferently, "but it was no hard trick to keep out of 
 his road. I suppose you let him know you approve of 
 his feelings toward me." 
 
 "Yes, I would load a gun for him to use on you if he 
 were able to hold it," she answered, and he seemed to 
 think her words amusing. 
 
 "You have mighty little regard for your duty to me," 
 he observed. 
 
 "Duty? I can't owe you any duty when I never re- 
 ceived any from you. I am nearly seventeen, and in all 
 the years I remember you, I can't recall any good act 
 you have ever done for me." 
 
 "Nearly seventeen," and he smiled at her in the way 
 she hated. "Didn't your new uncle, Haydon, tell you 
 better than that? You are nearly eighteen years old." 
 
 "Eighteen!" and she rose in astonishment. "I?" 
 
 "You though you don't look it. You always were 
 small for your age, so I just told you a white lie about it 
 in order to manage you better. But that is over ; I don't 
 care what you do in the future. All I want of you is 
 money to get to South America ; so fix it up for me." 
 
 "I ought to refuse, and call them in to arrest you." 
 
 "But you won't," he rejoined. "You can't afford it." 
 
 He watched her, though, with some uncertainty, as 
 she sat silent, thinking. 
 
 "No, I can't afford it," she said, at last. "I will be 
 doing wrong to help you, just as if I let a poison snake 
 loose where people travel for that is what you are. 
 But I am not strong enough to let these friends go and 
 start over again ; so I will help you away this once." 
 
 He drew a breath of relief, and gathered up his 
 blanket. 
 
256 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "That is the way to talk. You've got a level head" 
 
 "That will do," she said, curtly. "I don't want praise 
 from a coward, a thief, or a murderer. You are all 
 three. I have no money here. You will have to come 
 again for it to-morrow night." 
 
 "A trick is it?" 
 
 "It is no trick. I haven't got it, that is all. Maybe I 
 can't get it in money, but I will get it in free gold by 
 to-morrow at dusk. I will put it here under the pillow, 
 and will manage to keep the rest away at that time. 
 You can come as you came this evening, and get it; but 
 I will neither take it nor send it to you. You will have 
 to risk your freedom and your life to come for it. But 
 while I can't quite decide to give you up or to kill you, 
 myself, I hope some one else will." 
 
 "Hope what you please," he returned, indifferently. 
 "So long as you get the dust for me, I can stand your 
 opinion. And you will have it here ?" 
 
 "I will have it here." 
 
 "I trust you only because I know you can't afford to 
 go back on me," he said, as he wrapped the blanket 
 around him, and dropped his taller form to the height 
 of Akkomi. "It is a bargain, then, my dear. Good- 
 night.'" 
 
 "I don't wish you a good-night," she answered. "I 
 hope I shall never see you alive again." 
 
 And she never did. 
 
TANA'S ENGAGEMENT 257 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 'TANA'S ENGAGEMENT. 
 
 "And she wants a thousand dollars in money or free 
 gold a thousand dollars to-day ?" 
 
 "No use asking me what for, Dan, for I don't know," 
 confessed Lyster. "I can't see why she don't tell you 
 herself; but you know she has been a little queer since 
 the fever childish, whimsical, and all that. Maybe as 
 she has not yet handled any specie from your bonanza, 
 she wants some only to play with, and assure herself it 
 is real." 
 
 "Less than a thousand in money and dust would do for 
 a plaything," remarked Overton. "Of course she has a 
 right to get what she wants; but that amount will be 
 of no use to her here in camp, where there is not a 
 thing in the world to spend it for." 
 
 "Maybe she wants to pension off some of her Indian 
 friends before she leaves," suggested Max "old Akkomi 
 and Flap- Jacks, perhaps. I am a little like Miss Slocum 
 in my wonder as to how she endures them, though, of 
 course, the squaw is a necessity." 
 
 "Oh, well, she was not brought up in the world of 
 Miss Slocum or your world, either," answered Over- 
 ton. "You should make allowance for that." 
 
 "Make allowance I?" and Lyster looked at him 
 curiously. "Are you trying to justify her to me? Why, 
 man, you ought to know by this time what keeps me here 
 
258 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 a regular lounger around camp, and there is no need 
 to make excuses for her to me. I thought you knew." 
 
 "You mean you like her?" 
 
 "Worse than that," said Max, with his cheery, confi- 
 dent smile. "I'm trying to get her to say she likes me." 
 
 "And she?" 
 
 "Well, she won't meet me as near half-way as I would 
 like," he confessed; "talks a lot of stuff about not being 
 brought up right, and not suited to our style of life at 
 home, and all that. But she did seem rather partial to 
 me when she was ill and off guard. Don't you think so ? 
 That is all I have to go on; but it encourages me to re- 
 member it." 
 
 Overton did not speak, and Lyster continued speculat- 
 ing on his chances, when he noticed his companion's 
 silence. 
 
 "Why don't you speak, Dan? I did hope you would 
 help me rather than be indifferent." 
 
 "Help you!" and Lyster was taken aback at the fierce 
 straightening of the brows and the strange tone in which 
 the words were uttered. The older man could not but 
 see his surprised look, for he recovered himself, and 
 dropped his hand in the old familiar way on Lyster's 
 shoulder. 
 
 "Not much chance of my helping you when she em- 
 ploys you as an agent when she wants any service, rather 
 than exchange words with me herself. Now, that is the 
 way it looks, Max." 
 
 "I know," agreed Lyster. "And to tell the truth, Dan, 
 the only thing she does that really vexes me is her queer 
 attitude toward you of late. I can't think she means to 
 be ungrateful, but " 
 
'TANA'S ENGAGEMENT 259 
 
 "Don't bother about that. Everything has changed 
 for her lately, and she has her own troubles to think of. 
 Don't you doubt her on my account. Just remember 
 that. And if she says 'yes ' to you, Max, be sure I 
 would rather see her go to you than any other man I 
 know." 
 
 "That is all right," observed Lyster, laughingly; "but 
 if you only had a love affair or two of your own, you 
 could perhaps get up more enthusiasm over mine." 
 
 Then he sauntered off to report the financial interview 
 to Tana, and laughed as he went at the impatient look 
 flung at him by Overton. 
 
 He found 'Tana visiting at the tent of the cousins, who 
 were using all arguments to persuade her to share their 
 new abode. Each was horrified to learn that she had 
 dismissed the squaw at sleeping time, and had remained 
 in the cabin alone. 
 
 "Not quite alone," she corrected, "for Harris was just 
 (i the other side of the door." 
 
 "Much protection he would be." 
 
 "Well, then, Dan Overton was with him. How is he 
 for protection ?" 
 
 "Thoroughly competent, no doubt," agreed Miss La- 
 vina, with a rather scandalized look. "But, my dear, 
 the propriety?" 
 
 "Do you think Flap-Jacks would help any one out in 
 propriety?" retorted 'Tana. "But we won't stumble over 
 that question long, for I want to leave the camp and 
 go back to the Ferry." 
 
 "And then, Tana?" 
 
 "And then I don't know, Mrs. Huzzard, to school, 
 maybe though I feel old for that, older than either of 
 you, I am sure so old that I care nothing for all the 
 
260 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 things I wanted less than a year ago. They are within 
 my reach now, yet I only want to rest " 
 
 She did not finish the sentence. 
 
 Mrs. Huzzard, noticing the tired look in her eyes and 
 the wistfulness of her voice, reached out and patted her 
 head affectionately. 
 
 "You want, first of all, to grow strong and hearty, 
 like you used to be that is what you need first, then the 
 rest will all come right in good time. You'll want to see 
 the theaters, and the pictures, and hear the fine music 
 you used to talk of. And you'll travel, and see all the 
 fine places you used to dream about. Then, maybe, you'll 
 get ambitious, like you used to be, about making pictures 
 out of clay. For you can have fine teaching now, you 
 ktx. v, and you'll find, after a while, that the days will 
 hardly seem long enough for all the things you want 
 to do. That is how it will be when you get strong 
 again." 
 
 'Tana tried to smile at the cheerful picture, but the 
 smile was not a merry one. Her attention was given 
 to Lyster and Overton, whom she could see from the 
 tent door. 
 
 How tall and strong Dan looked ! Was she to believe 
 that story of him heard last night? The very possibility 
 of it made her cheeks burn at the thought of how she 
 had stood with his arm around her. And he had pitied 
 her that night. "Poor little girl !" he had said. Was his 
 pity because he saw how much he was to her, while he 
 himself thought only of some one else? One after an- 
 other those thoughts had come to her through the sleep- 
 less night, and when the day came she could not face 
 him to speak to him of the simplest thing. And of the 
 money she must have, she could not ask him at all. She 
 
TANA'S ENGAGEMENT 261 
 
 wished she could have courage to go to him and tell him 
 the thing she had heard; but courage was not strong in 
 her of late. The fear that he might look indifferently 
 on her and say, "Yes, it is true what then?" the fear 
 of that was so great that she had walked by the water's 
 edge, as the sun rose, and felt desperate enough to think 
 of sleep under the waves, as a temptation. For if it was 
 true 
 
 The two older women watched her, and decided that 
 she was not yet strong enough to think of long journeys. 
 Her hands would tremble at times, and tears, as of weak- 
 ness, would come to her eyes, and she scarcely appeared 
 to hear them when they spoke. 
 
 She never walked through the woods as of old, though 
 sometimes she would stand and look up at the dark hills 
 with a perfect hunger in her eyes. And when the night 
 breeze would creep down from the heights, and carry the 
 sweet wood scents of the forest to her, she would close 
 her eyes and draw in long breaths of utter content. The 
 strong love for the wild places was as second nature to 
 her; yet when Max would ask her to go with him for 
 flowers or mosses, her answer was always "no." 
 
 But she would go to the boat sometimes, though no 
 longer having strength to use the paddle. It was a good 
 place to think, if she could only keep the others from 
 going, too, so she slipped away from Max and the women 
 and went down. A chunky, good-looking fellow was 
 mending one of the canoes, and raised his head at her ap- 
 proach, nodding to her and evidently pleased when she 
 addressed him. 
 
 "Yes, it is a shaky old tub," he agreed, "but I told 
 Overton I thought it could be fixed to carry freight for 
 another trip ; so he put me at it." 
 
262 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "You are new in camp, aren't you?" she asked, not 
 caring at all whether he was or not. She was always 
 friendly with the workmen, and this one smiled and 
 bowed. 
 
 "We are all that, I guess," he said. "But I came up 
 the day Haydon and Seldon came. I lived with Seldon 
 down the country, and was staggered a little, I tell you, 
 when I found Overton was in charge, and had struck it 
 rich. But no man deserves good luck more." 
 
 "No/' she agreed. "Then you knew him before?" 
 
 "Yes, indeed over in Spokane. He don't seem quite 
 the same fellow, though. We thought he would just go 
 to the dogs after he left there, for he started to drink 
 heavily. But he must have settled in his own mind that 
 it wasn't worth while ; so here he is, straight as a string, 
 and counting his dollars by the thousands, and I'm glad 
 to see it." 
 
 "Drink! He never drinks to excess, that we know 
 of," she answered. "Doesn't seem to care for that sort of 
 thing." 
 
 "No, he didn't then, either," agreed this loquacious 
 stranger, "but a woman can drive as good men as him 
 to drink; and that is about the way it was. No one 
 thought any worse of Overton, though don't think that. 
 The worst any one could say was that he was too square 
 that's all." 
 
 Too square! She walked away from him a little way, 
 all her mind aflame with his suggestions. He had taken 
 to drink and dissipation because of some woman. Was 
 it the woman whose name she had heard last night ? The 
 key to the thing puzzling her had been dropped almost 
 at her feet, yet she feared to pick it up. No teaching she 
 had ever received told her it was unprincipled to steal 
 
TANA'S ENGAGEMENT 203 
 
 through another the confidence he himself had not chosen 
 to give her. But some instinct of justice kept her from 
 further question. 
 
 She knew the type of fellow who was rigging up the 
 canoe, a light-headed, assuming specimen, who had not 
 yet learned to keep a still tongue in his head, but he did 
 not impress her as being a deliberate liar. Then, all at 
 once, she realized who he must be, and turned back. 
 There was no harm in asking that, at any rate. 
 
 "You are the man whom Overton sent to put Harris 
 to bed last night, are you not ?" she asked. 
 
 He nodded, cheerfully. 
 
 "And your name is Jake Emmons, of the Spokane 
 country ?" 
 
 "Thet's who," he assented ; "that's where I came across 
 Lottie Snyder, Overton's wife, you know. I was running 
 a little stage there for a manager, and she " 
 
 "I am not asking you about about Mr. Overton's af- 
 fairs," she said, and she sat down, white and dizzy, on 
 the overturned canoe. "And he might not like it if he 
 knew you were talking so free. Don't do it again." 
 
 "All right," he agreed. "I won't. No one here seems 
 to know about the bad break he made over there; but, 
 Lord ! there was excuse enough. She is one of those 
 women that look just like a little helpless baby ; and that 
 caught Overton. Young, you know. But I won't whis- 
 per her name in camp again, for it is hard on the old man. 
 But, as you are partners, I guessed you must know." 
 
 "Yes," she said, faintly; "but don't talk, don't 
 
 "Say! You are sick, ain't you?" he demanded, as her 
 voice dropped to a whisper. "Say! Look here, Miss 
 Rivers ! Great snakes ! She's fainted !" 
 
 When she opened her eyes again, the rough roof of 
 
264: THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 her cabin was above her, instead of the blue sky. The 
 women folks were using the camp restorative whisky 
 on her to such good purpose that her hands and face and 
 hair were redolent of it, and the amount she had been 
 forced to swallow was strangling her. 
 
 The face she saw first was that of Max Max, dis- 
 tressed and anxious, and even a little pale at sight of her 
 death-like face. 
 
 She turned to him as to a haven of refuge from the 
 storm of emotion under which she had fallen prostrate. 
 
 It was all settled now settled forever. She had heard 
 the worst, and knew she must go away away from 
 where she must see that one man, and be filled with 
 humiliation if ever she met his gaze. A man with a wife 
 somewhere a man into whose arms she had crept! 
 
 "Are you in pain?" asked Miss Lavina, as Tana 
 groaned and shut her eyes tight, as if to bar out memory. 
 
 "No nothing ails me. I was without a hat, and the 
 sun on my head made me sick, I suppose," she answered, 
 and arose on her elbow. "But I am not going to be a 
 baby, to be watched and carried around any more. I am 
 going to get up." 
 
 Just outside her door Overton stood; and when he 
 heard her voice again, with its forced independent words, 
 he walked away content that she was again herself. 
 
 "I am going to get up," she continued. "I am going 
 away from here to-morrow or next day and there 
 are things to do. Help me, Max." 
 
 "Best thing you can do is to lie still an hour or two," 
 advised Mrs. Huzzard, but the girl shook her head. 
 
 "No, I'm going to get up," she said, with grim de- 
 cision ; and when Lyster offered his hand to help her, she 
 took it, and, standing erect, looked around at the couch. 
 
TANA'S ENGAGEMENT 265 
 
 "That is the last time I'm going to be thrown on you for 
 any such fool cause," she said, whimsically. "Who toted 
 me in here you?" 
 
 "I ? Not a bit of it," confessed Lyster. "Dan reached 
 you before any of the others knew you were ill. He 
 carried you up here." 
 
 "He? Oh!" and she shivered a little. "I want to 
 talk to Harris. Max, come with me." 
 
 He went wonderingly, for he could see she was excited 
 and nervous. Her hand trembled as it touched his, but 
 her mouth was set so firmly over the little white teeth 
 that he knew it was better to humor her than fret her 
 by persuading her to rest. 
 
 But once beside Harris, she sat a long time in silence, 
 looking out from the doorway across the level now active 
 with the men of the works. Not until the two cousins 
 had walked across to their other shelter did she speak, 
 and then it was to Harris. 
 
 "Joe, I am sick," she confessed; "not sick with the 
 fever, but heartsick and headsick. You know how and 
 maybe why." 
 
 He nodded his head, and looked at Lyster question- 
 ingly. 
 
 "And I've come in here to tell you something. Max, 
 you won't mind. He can't talk, but knows me better 
 than you do, I guess ; for I've come to him before when 
 I was troubled, and I want to tell him what you said to 
 me in the boat." 
 
 Max stared at her, but silently agreed when he saw she 
 was in earnest. He even reached out his hand to take 
 hers, but she drew away. 
 
 "Wait till I tell him," she said, and turned to the help- 
 
266 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 less man in the chair. "He asked me to marry him 
 some day. Would it be right for me to say yes?" 
 
 " 'Tana !" exclaimed Lyster ; but she raised her hand 
 pleadingly. 
 
 "I haven't any other person in the world I could go 
 to and ask," she said. "He knows me better than you do, 
 Max, and I Oh ! I don't think I should be always con- 
 tented with your ways of living. I was born different 
 a heap different. But to-day it seems as if I am not 
 strong enough to do without some one who likes me, 
 and I do want to say 'yes' to you, yet I'm afraid it is 
 only because I am sick at Ireart and lonely." 
 
 It was a declaration likely to cool the ardor of most 
 lovers, but Lyster reached out his hand to her and 
 laughed. 
 
 "Oh, you dear girl," he said, fondly. "Did your con- 
 science make it necessary for you to confess in this 
 fashion? Now listen. You are weak and nervous; 
 you need some one to look after you. Doesn't she, Har- 
 ris? Well, take me on trial. I will devote myself to, 
 your interests for six months, and if at the end of that 
 time you find that it was only sickness and loneliness 
 that ailed you, and not liking me, then I give you my 
 word I'll never try to hold you to a promise. You will 
 be well and strong by that time, and I'll stand by the 
 decision you make then. Will you say 'y es / now?" 
 
 She looked at Harris, who nodded his head. Then she 
 turned and gave her hand to Max. 
 
 "Yes," she said. "But if you should be sorry-" 
 
 "Not another word," he commanded; "the 'y es ' is all 
 I want to hear just now; when I get sorry I'll let you 
 know." 
 
 And that is the way their engagement began. 
 
LAVINA AND THE CAPTAIN 26T 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 LAVINA AND THE CAPTAIN. 
 
 As the day wore on, Tana became more nervous and 
 restless. With the dark, that man was to come for the 
 gold she had promised. 
 
 Lyster brought it to her, part in money, part in free 
 gold, and as he laid it on the couch^ she looked at him 
 strangely. 
 
 "How much you trust me when you never even ask 
 what I am to do with all this !" she said. "Yet it is enough 
 to surprise you." 
 
 "Yes, it is," he agreed. "But when you are ready you 
 will tell me." 
 
 "No, I will not tell you," she answered, "but it is the 
 last thing I think that I will keep from you, Max. 
 It is a debt that belongs to days before I knew you. 
 What did Overton say?" 
 
 "Not much, maybe he will leave for the upper works 
 this evening or to-morrow morning." 
 
 "Did you did you tell him" 
 
 "That you are going to belong to me? Well, no, I 
 did not. You forgot to give me permission." 
 
 Her face flushed shyly at his words. 
 
 "You must think me a queer girl, Max," she said. 
 "And you are so good and patient with me, in spite of 
 my queer ways. But, never mind; they will not last 
 always, I hope." 
 
268 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "Which? my virtues or your queerness?" he asked. 
 
 She only smiled and pushed the gold under the pillow. 
 
 "Go away now for a little while. I want to rest." 
 
 "Well, rest if you like; but don't think. You have 
 been fretting over some little personal troubles until you 
 fancy them heavy enough to overbalance the world. But 
 they won't. And I'm not going to try and persuade you 
 into Haydon's house, either, now that you've been good 
 to me ; unless, of course, you fall in love with Margaret, 
 and want to be with her, and it is likely to happen. But 
 Uncle Seldon and my aunts will be delighted to have 
 you, and you could live as quiet as you please there." 
 
 "So I am likely to fall in love with Margaret, am I ?" 
 she asked. "Why? Does everybody? Did you Max? 
 Now, don't blush like that, or I'll be sure of it. I never 
 saw you blush so pretty before. It made you almost 
 good looking. Now go ; I want to be alone." 
 
 "Sha'n't I send one of the ladies up?" 
 
 "Not a soul ! Go, Max. I am tired." 
 
 So he went, in all obedience, and he and the cousins 
 had a long talk about the girl and the danger of leaving 
 her alone another night. Her sudden illness showed 
 them she was not strong enough yet to be allowed to 
 guide herself. 
 
 "I shall try hard to get her to leave to-morrow, or 
 next day," said Lyster. "Where is Dan? I would like 
 to talk to him about it, but he has evidently disappeared." 
 
 "I don't know what to think of Dan Overton," con- 
 fessed Mrs. Huzzard. "He isn't ever around, chatty and 
 sociable, like he used to be. When we do see him, he is 
 nearly always busy; and when he isn't busy, he strikes 
 for the woods." 
 
LAVINA AND THE CAPTAIN 269 
 
 "Maybe he is still searching for new gold mines/' sug- 
 gested Miss Lavina. "I notice he does seem very much 
 engaged in thought, and is of a rather solitary nature." 
 
 "Never was before," protested her cousin. "And if 
 these gold finds just twist a person's nature crosswise, 
 or send them into a fever, then I hope the good Lord'll 
 keep the rest of them well covered up in future." 
 
 "Lorena Jane," said Miss Lavina, in a reproachful 
 tone, "it is most essential that you free yourself from 
 those very forcible expressions. They are not a bit 
 genteel." 
 
 "No, I reckon they ain't, Lavina; and the more I 
 try the more I'm afraid I never will be. Land sakes, if 
 folks would only teach their young ones good manners 
 when they are young, what a sight of mortified feelings 
 would be saved after a while!" 
 
 Lyster left them in the midst of the very earnest plea 
 for better training, for he espied a new boat approaching 
 camp. As it came closer, he found that among the other 
 freight it carried was the autocrat of Sinna Ferry 
 Captain Leek. 
 
 "What a God-forsaken wilderness!" he exclaimed, 
 and looked around with a supercilious air, suggesting 
 that he would have given the Creator of the Kootenai 
 country valuable points if he had been consulted. "Well, 
 my dear young fellow, how you have managed to exist 
 here for three weeks I don't know." 
 
 "Well, we had Mrs. Huzzard," explained Max, with 
 a twinkle in his eye ; "and she is a panacea for many ills. 
 She has made our wilderness very endurable." 
 
 "Yes, yes; excellent woman," agreed the other, with 
 a suspicious look. "And 'Tana ? How is she the dear 
 girl ! I really have been much grieved to hear of her ill- 
 is 
 
270 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 ness; and at the earliest day I could leave my business 
 I am here to inquire in person regarding her health." 
 
 "Oh!" and Max struggled with a desire to laugh at 
 the change in the captain's attitude since 'Tana was a 
 moneyed individual instead of a little waif. Poor Tana ! 
 No wonder she looked with suspicion on late-coming 
 friends. 
 
 "Yes, she is better much better," he continued, as 
 they walked up from the boat. "I suppose you knew that 
 a cousin of Mrs. Huzzard, a lady from Ohio, has been 
 with us in fact, came up with our party." 
 
 "So I heard so I heard. Nice for Mrs. Huzzard. I 
 was not in town, you know, when you rested at the 
 Ferry. I heard, however, that a white woman had come 
 up. Who is she?" 
 
 They had reached the tent, and Mrs. Huzzard, after 
 a frantic dive toward their very small looking glass, 
 appeared at the door with a smile enchanting, and a 
 courtesy so nicely managed that it nearly took the cap- 
 tain's breath away. It was the very latest of Lavina's 
 teachings. 
 
 "Well, now, I'm mighty hem! I'm extremely 
 pleased that you have called. Have a nice trip?" 
 
 But the society tone of Mrs. Huzzard was so unlike 
 the one he had been accustomed to hearing her use, that 
 the captain could only stare, and before he recovered 
 enough to reply, she turned and beckoned Miss Slocum, 
 with the idea of completing the impression made, and 
 showing with what grace she could present him to her 
 cousin. 
 
 But the lately acquired style was lost on him this time, 
 overtopped by the presence of Miss Lavina, who gazed 
 at him with a prolonged and steady stare. 
 
LA VINA AND THE CAPTAIN 271 
 
 "And this is your friend, Captain Leek, of the Northern 
 Army, is it?" she asked, in her very sharpest voice a 
 voice she tried to temper with a smile about her lips, 
 though none shone in her eyes. "I have no doubt you 
 will be very welcome to the camp, Captain Leek." 
 
 Mrs. Huzzard had surely expected of Lavina a much 
 more gracious reception. But Mrs. Huzzard was a bit 
 of a philosopher, and if Lavina chose to be somewhat 
 cold and unresponsive to the presence of a cultured gen- 
 tleman, well, it gave Lorena Jane so much better chance, 
 and she was not going to slight it. 
 
 "Come right in; you must be dead tired," she said, 
 cordially. "Mr. Max, you'll let Dan know he's here, 
 won't you that is, when he does show up again, but 
 no one knows how long that will be." 
 
 "Yes, I am tired," agreed the captain, meekly, and 
 not quite at his ease with the speculative eyes of Miss 
 Slocum on him. "I I brought up a few letters that 
 arrived at the Ferry. I can't make up my mind to trust 
 mail with these Indian boatmen Dan employs." 
 
 "They are a trial," agreed Mrs. Huzzard, "though they 
 haven't the bad effect on our nerves that one or two 
 of the camp Indians have an awful squaw, who helps 
 around, and an ugly old man, who only smokes and looks 
 horrible. Now, Lavina she ain't used to no such, and 
 she just shivers at them." 
 
 "Yes ah yes," murmured the captain. 
 
 "Lavina says she knew folks of your name back in 
 Ohio," continued Mrs. Huzzard, cheerfully, in order to 
 get the two strangers better acquainted. "I thought at 
 first maybe you'd turn out to know each other; but she 
 says they was Democrats," and she turned a sharp glance 
 toward him, as if to read his political tendencies. 
 
272 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "No, I never knew any Captain Leek/' said Miss 
 Slocum, "and the ones I knew hadn't any one in the Union 
 Army. Their principles, if they had any, were against 
 it, and there wasn't a Republican in the family." 
 
 "Then, of course, that would settle Captain Leek be- 
 longing to them/' decided Mrs. Huzzard, promptly. "I 
 don't know much about politics, but as all our men folks 
 wore the blue clothes, and fought in them, I was always 
 glad I come from a Republican State. And I guess all 
 the Republicans that carried guns against the Union 
 could be counted without much arithmetic." 
 
 "I I think I will go and look for Dan myself," ob- 
 served the captain, rising and looking around a little 
 uncertainly at Miss Slocum. "I brought some letters 
 he may want." 
 
 He made his bow and placed the picturesque corded 
 hat on his head as he went out. But Mrs. Huzzard 
 looked after him somewhat anxiously. 
 
 "He's sick," she decided as he vanished from her view ; 
 "I never did see him walk so draggy like. And don't 
 you judge his manners, either, Lavina, from this first 
 sight of him, for he ain't himself to-day." 
 
 "He didn't look to me as though he knew who he was," 
 remarked Lavina; and after a little she looked up from 
 the tidy she was knitting. "So, Lorena Jane, that is the 
 man you've been trying to educate yourself up to more 
 than for anybody else now, tell the truth !" 
 
 "Well, I don't mind saying that it was his good man- 
 ners made me see how bad mine were," she confessed; 
 "but as for training for him " 
 
 "I see," said Miss Lavina, grimly, "and it is all right; 
 but I just thought I'd ask." 
 
LAVINA AND THE CAPTAIN 273 
 
 Then she relapsed into deep thought, and made the 
 needles click with impatience all that afternoon. 
 
 The captain came near the tent once, but retreated at 
 the vision of the knitter. He talked with Mrs. Huzzard 
 in the cabin of Harris, but did not visit her again in her 
 own tent; and the poor woman began to wonder if the 
 air of the Kootenai woods had an erratic influence on 
 people. Dan was changed, 'Tana was changed, and now 
 the captain seemed unlike himself from the very mo- 
 ment of his arrival. Even Lavina was a bit curt and in- 
 different, and Lorena Jane wondered where it would end. 
 
 In the midst of her perplexity, 'Tana added to it by 
 appearing before her in "the Indian dress Overton had 
 presented her with. Since her sickness it had hung 
 unused in her cabin, and the two women had fashioned 
 garments more suitable, they thought, to a young girl who 
 could wear real laces now if she chose. But there she was 
 again, dressed like any little squaw, and although rather 
 pale to suit the outfit, she said she wanted a few more 
 "Indian hours" before departing for the far-off Eastern 
 city that was to her as a new world. 
 
 She received Captain Leek with an unconcern that 
 was discouraging to the pretty speeches he had pre- 
 pared to utter. 
 
 Dan returned and looked sharply at her as she sat 
 whittling a stick of which she said she meant to make a 
 cane a staff for mountain climbing. 
 
 "Where do you intend climbing?" he asked. 
 
 She waved the stick toward the hill back of them, the 
 first step of the mountain. 
 
 "It is only a few hours since I picked you up down 
 there, looking as if you were dead," he said, impatiently ; 
 "and you know you are not fit to tramp/* 
 
274: THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "Well, I'm not dead yet, anyway," she answered, 
 with a shrug of her shoulders; "and as I'm going to 
 break away from this camp about to-morrow, I thought 
 I'd like to see a bit of the woods first." 
 
 "You are going to-morrow ?" 
 
 "I reckon so." 
 
 " Tana ! And you have not said a word to me of it ? 
 That was not very friendly, little girl." 
 
 She did not reply, but bent her head low over her 
 work. 
 
 After observing her for a while in silence, he arose and 
 put on his hat. 
 
 "Here is my knife," he remarked. "You had better 
 use it, if you are determined to haggle at that stick. 
 Your own knife is too dull for any use. You can leave 
 it here in the cabin when you are done with it." 
 
 She accepted it without a word, but flushed red when 
 he had gone, and she found the eyes of Harris regard- 
 ing her sadly. 
 
 " 'Not very friendly/ " she said, going over Overton's 
 words "you think that, too don't you? You think 
 I'm ugly, and saucy, and awful, I know! You look 
 scoldings at me ; but if you knew all, maybe you wouldn't 
 if you knew that my heart is just about breaking. I'm 
 going out where there is no one to talk to, or I'll be cry- 
 ing next." 
 
 The two cousins and the captain were in 'Tana's cabin. 
 Mrs. Huzzard was determined that Miss Slocum and the 
 captain should become acquainted, and, getting sight of 
 the girl, who was walking alone across the level, she 
 at once followed her, thinking that the two left behind 
 would perhaps become more social if left entirely to 
 
LAVINA AND THE CAPTAIN 275 
 
 themselves. And they did; that is, they talked, and the 
 captain spoke first. 
 
 "So you you bear a grudge don't you, Lavina?" 
 
 "Well, I guess if I owed you a very heavy one, I've 
 got a good chance to pay it off now," she remarked, 
 grimly. 
 
 He twirled his hat in a dejected way, and did not 
 speak. 
 
 "You an officer in the Union Army?" she continued, 
 derisively. "You a pattern of what a gentleman should 
 be; you to set up as superior to these rough-handed 
 miners; you to act as if this Government owes you a 
 pension! Why, how would it be with you, Alf Leek, if 
 I'd tell this camp the truth of how you went away, en- 
 gaged to me, twenty-five years ago, and never let me set 
 eyes on you since of how I wore black for you, think- 
 ing you were killed in the war, till I heard that you had 
 deserted. I took off that mourning quick, I can tell you ! 
 I thought you were fighting on the wrong side; yet if 
 you had a good reason for being there, you should have 
 staid and fought so long as there was breath in you. And 
 if I was to tell them here that you haven't a particle of 
 right to wear that blue suit that looks like a uniform, and 
 that you were no more 'captain' of anything than I am 
 well, I guess Lorena Jane wouldn't have much to say 
 to you, though maybe Mr. Overton would." 
 
 He grew actually pale as he listened. His fear of some 
 one overhearing her was as great as his own mortifi- 
 cation. 
 
 "But you you won't tell will you, Lavina?" he said 
 pleadingly. "I haven't done any harm ! I " 
 
 "Harm! Alf Leek, you never had enough backbone 
 to do either harm or help to any one in this world. But 
 
276 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 don't you suppose you did me harm when you spoiled 
 me for ever trusting any other man?" 
 
 "I I would have come back, but I thought you'd be 
 married," he said, in a feeble, hopeless way. 
 
 "Likely that is now, ain't it?" she demanded. And, 
 woman-like, now that she had reduced him to meekness 
 and humiliation, she grew a shade less severe, as if pretty 
 well satisfied. "I had other things to think of besides a 
 husband." 
 
 "You won't tell will you, Lavina? I'll tell you how 
 it all happened, some day. Then I'll leave this country." 
 
 "You'll not," she contradicted. "You'll stay right here 
 as long as I do, and I won't tell just so long as you keep 
 from trying to make Lorena Jane believe how great you 
 are. But at the first word of your heroic actions, or the 
 cultured society you were always used to " 
 
 "You'll never hear of them," he said eagerly, "never. 
 I knew you wouldn't make trouble, Lavina, for you al- 
 ways were such a good, kind-hearted girl." 
 
 He offered his hand to her, sheepishly, and she gave 
 it a vixenish slap. 
 
 "Don't try any of your skim-milk praise on me," she 
 said, tartly. "Huh! You, that Lorena thought was a 
 pillar of cultured society! When, the Lord knows, you 
 wouldn't have known how to read the addresses on your 
 own letters if I hadn't taught you !" 
 
 He moved to the door in a crestfallen manner, and 
 stood there a moment, moistening his lips, and apparently 
 swallowing words that could not be uttered. 
 
 "That's so, Lavina," he said, at last, and went out. 
 
 "There!" she muttered aggrievedly "that's Alf Leek, 
 just as he always was. Give him a chance, and he'd ride 
 over any one; but get the upper hand of him, and he is 
 
LAVINA AND THE CAPTAIN 277 
 
 meeker than Moses. Not that much meekness is needed 
 to come up to Moses, either." Then, after an impatient 
 tattoo, she exclaimed : 
 
 "Gracious me ! I do wish he hadn't looked so crushed, 
 and had talked back a little." 
 
278 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE MURDER. 
 
 That evening, as the dusk fell, a slight figure in an 
 Indian dress slipped to the low brush back of the cabin, 
 and thence to the uplands. 
 
 It was 'Tana, ready to endure all the wilds of the 
 woods, rather than stay there and meet again the man 
 she had met the night before. She had sent the squaw 
 away; she had arranged in Mrs. Huzzard's tent a little 
 game of cards that would hold the attention of Lyster and 
 the others ; and then she had slipped away, that she might, 
 for just once more, feel free on the mountain, as she had 
 felt when they first located their camp in the sweet grass 
 of the Twin Springs. 
 
 The moon would be up after a while. She could not 
 walk far, but she meant to sit somewhere up there in 
 the high ground until the moon should roll up over the 
 far mountains. 
 
 The mere wearing of the Indian dress gave her a 
 feeling of being herself once more, for in the pretty con- 
 ventional dress made for her by Mrs. Huzzard, she felt 
 like another girl a girl she did not know very well. 
 
 In the southwest long streaks of red and yellow lay 
 across the sky, and a clear radiance filled the air, as it 
 does when a new moon is born after the darkness. She 
 felt the beauty of it all, and stretched out her arms as 
 though to draw the peaks of the hills to her. 
 
THE MURDER 279 
 
 But, as she stepped forward, a form arose before her 
 tall, decided form, and a decided voice said: 
 
 "No, 'Tana, you have gone far enough. " 
 
 "Dan !" 
 
 "Yes it is Dan this time, and not the other fellow. 
 If he is waiting for you to-night, I will see that he waits 
 a long time." 
 
 "You you!" she murmured, and stepped back from 
 him. Then, her first fright over, she straightened her- 
 self defiantly. 
 
 "Why do you think any one is waiting for me?" she 
 demanded. "What do you know? I am heartsick with 
 all this hiding, and and deceit. If you know the truth, 
 speak out, and end it all !" 
 
 "I can't say any more than you know already," he 
 answered "not so much; but last night a man was in 
 your cabin, a man you know and quarreled with. I didn't 
 hear you; don't think I was spying on you. A miner 
 who passed the cabin heard your voices and told me 
 something was wrong. You don't give me any right to 
 advise you or dictate to you, 'Tana, but one thing you 
 shall not do, that is, steal to the woods to meet him. And 
 if I find him in your cabin, I promise you he sha'n't die 
 of old age." 
 
 "You would kill him?" 
 
 "Like a snake!" and his voice was harsher, colder, 
 than she had ever heard it. "I'm not asking you any 
 questions, 'Tana. I know it was the man whom you 
 saw that night at the spring, and would not let me fol- 
 low. I know there is something wrong, or he would 
 come to see you, like a man, in daylight. If the others 
 here knew it, they would say things not kind to you. 
 And that is why it sha'n't go on." 
 
280 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "Sha'n't? What right have you to to " 
 
 "You will say none/' he answered, curtly, "because 
 you do not know." 
 
 "Do not know what?" she interrupted, but he only 
 drew a deep breath and shook his head. 
 
 " Tana, don't meet this man again," he said, plead- 
 ingly. "Trust me to judge for you. I don't want to be 
 harsh with you. I don't want you to go away with hard 
 thoughts against me. But this has got to stop you must 
 promise -me." 
 
 "And if I refuse?" 
 
 "Then I'd look for the man, and he never would meet 
 you again." 
 
 A little shiver ran over her as he spoke. She knew 
 what he meant, and, despite her bitter words last night 
 to her visitor, the thought was horrible to her that Dan 
 
 She covered her face with her hands and turned away. 
 
 "Don't do that, little girl," he said, and laid his hand 
 on her arm. " 'Tana !" 
 
 She flung off his hand as though it stung her, and into 
 her mind flashed remembrance of Jake Emmons from 
 Spokane of him and his words. 
 
 "Don't touch me!" she half sobbed. "Don't you say 
 another word to me ! I am going away to-morrow, and 
 I have promised to marry Max Lyster." 
 
 His hand dropped to his side, and his face shone white 
 in the wan glimmer of the stars. 
 
 "You have promised that?" he said, at last, drawing 
 his breath hard through his shut teeth. "Well it is 
 right, I suppose right. Come ! I will take you back to 
 him now. He is the best one to guard you. Come !" 
 
 She drew away and looked from him across to where 
 the merest rim of the rising moon was to be seen across 
 
THE MURDER 281 
 
 the hills. The thought of that other night came to her, 
 the night when they had stood close to each other in the 
 moonlight. How happy she had been for that one little 
 space of time ! And now Ah ! she scarcely dare allow 
 him to speak kindly to her, lest she grow weak enough 
 to long for that blind content once more. 
 
 "Come, Tana." 
 
 "Go. I will follow after a little," she answered, with- 
 out turning her head. 
 
 "I may never trouble you to walk with you again," he 
 said, in a low, constrained tone; "but this time I must 
 see you safe in the tent before I leave." 
 
 "Leave! Going! Where to?" she asked, and her 
 voice trembled in spite of herself. She clasped her hands 
 tightly, and he could see the flash of the ring he had 
 given her. She had put it on with the Indian dress. 
 
 "That does not matter much, does it?" he returned; 
 "but somewhere, far enough up the lake not to trouble 
 you again while you stay. Come." 
 
 She walked beside him without another word; words 
 seemed so useless. She had said words over and over 
 again to herself all that day words of his wrong to her 
 in not telling her of that other woman, words of re- 
 proach, bitter and keen; yet none of her reasoning kept 
 her from wanting to touch his hand as he walked beside 
 her. 
 
 But she did not. Even when they reached the level 
 by the springs, she only looked her farewell to him, but 
 did not speak. 
 
 "Good-by," he said, in a voice that was not like Dan's 
 voice. 
 
 She merely bowed her head, and walked away toward 
 the tent where she heard Mrs. Huzzard laughing. 
 
282 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 She halted near the cabin, and then hurried on, dread- 
 ing to enter it yet, lest she should meet the man she 
 was trying to avoid. 
 
 Overton watched her until she reached the tent. The 
 moon had just escaped the horizon, and threw its soft* 
 misty light over all the place. He pulled his hat low 
 over his eyes, and, turning, took the opposite direction. 
 
 Only a few minutes elapsed when Lyster remembered 
 he had promised Dan to look after Harris, and rose to 
 go to the cabin. 
 
 "I will go, too," said 'Tana, filled with nervous dread 
 lest he encounter some one on her threshold, though she 
 had all reason to expect that her disguised visitor had 
 come and gone ere that. 
 
 "Well, well, 'Tana, you are a restless mortal," said 
 Mrs. Huzzard. " You've only just come, and now you 
 must be off again. What did you do that you wanted 
 to be all alone for this evening? Read verses, I'll go 
 bail." 
 
 "No, I didn't read verses," answered 'Tana. "But you 
 needn't go along to the cabin." 
 
 "Well, I will then. You are not fit to sleep alone. 
 And, if it wasn't for the beastly snakes! " 
 
 "We will go and see Harris," said the girl, and so they 
 entered his cabin, where he sat alone with a bright light 
 burning. 
 
 Some newspapers, brought by the captain, were spread 
 before him on a rough reading stand rigged up by one of 
 the miners. 
 
 He looked pale and tired, as though the effort of perus^ 
 ing them had been rather too much for him. 
 
 Listen as she might, the girl could hear never a sound 
 from her own cabin. She stood by the blanket door, 
 
THE MURDER 283 
 
 connecting the two rooms, but not a breath came to 
 her. She sighed with relief at the certainty that he had 
 come and gone. She would never see him again. 
 
 "Shall I light your lamp?" asked Lyster; and, scarce 
 waiting for a reply, he drew back the blanket and entered 
 the darkness of the other cabin. 
 
 Two of the miners came to the door just then, detailed 
 to look after Harris for the night. One was the good- 
 natured, talkative Emmons. 
 
 "Glad to see you are so much better, miss," he said, 
 with an expansive smile. "But you scared the wits nearly 
 out of me this morning." 
 
 Then they heard the sputter of a match in the next 
 room, and a sharp, startled cry from Lyster, as the blaze 
 gave a feeble light to the interior. 
 
 He staggered back among the rest, with the dying 
 match in his fingers, and his face ashen gray. 
 
 "Snakes!" half screamed Mrs. Huzzard. "Oh, my! 
 oh, my!" 
 
 'Tana, after one look at Lyster, tried to enter the room, 
 but he caught and held her. 
 
 "Don't, dear ! don't go in there ! It's awful awful !" 
 
 "What's wrong?" demanded one of the miners, and 
 picked up a lamp from beside Harris. 
 
 "Look ! It is Akkomi !" answered Lyster. 
 
 At the name 'Tana broke from him and ran into the 
 room, even before the light reached it. 
 
 But she did not take many steps. Her foot struck 
 against something on the floor, an immovable body and 
 a silent one. 
 
 "Akkomi sure enough," said the miner, as he saw the 
 Indian's blanket. "Drunk, I suppose Indian fashion." 
 
2S4: THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 But as he held the light closer, he took hold of the 
 girl's arm, and tried to lead her from the scene. 
 
 "You'd better leave this to us, miss," he added, in a 
 grave tone. "The man ain't drunk. He's been mur- 
 dered!" 
 
 'Tana, white as death itself, shook off his grasp and 
 stood with tightly clasped hands, unheeding the words of 
 horror around her, scarce hearing the shriek of Mrs. 
 Huzzard, as that lady, forgetful even of the snakes, sank 
 to the floor, a very picture of terror. 
 
 'Tana saw the roll of money scattered over the couch ; 
 the little bag of free gold drawn from under the pillow. 
 He had evidently been stooping to secure it when the 
 assassin crept behind him and left him dead there, with 
 a knife sticking between his shoulders. 
 
 "The very knife you had to-day !" said Lyster, horror- 
 stricken at the sight. 
 
 The miner with the lamp turned and looked at her 
 strangely, and his eyes dropped from her face to her 
 clasped hands, on which the ring of the snakes glittered. 
 
 "Your knife?" he asked, and others, attracted by Mrs. 
 Huzzard's scream, stood around the doors and looked at 
 her too. 
 
 She nodded her head, scarce understanding the signifi- 
 cance of it, and never taking her eyes from the dead 
 man, whose face was yet hidden. 
 
 "He may not be dead," she said, at last. "Look!" 
 
 "Oh, he's dead, safe enough," and Emmons lifted his 
 hand. "Was he trying to rob you ?" 
 
 "I no I don't know," she answered, vaguely. 
 
 Then another man turned the body over, and utter 
 surprise was on every face; for, though it was Akkomi's 
 blanket, it was a much younger man who lay there. 
 
THE MURDER 285 
 
 "A white man, by Heavens!" said the miner who had 
 first entered. "A white man, with brown paint on his 
 face and hands! But, look here!" and he pulled down 
 the collar of the dead man's shirt, and showed a skin fair 
 as a child's. 
 
 "Something terribly crooked here," he continued. 
 "Where is Overton?" 
 
 Overton ! At the name her very heart grew cold within 
 her. Had he not threatened he would kill the man who 
 visited her at night? Had he come straight to the cabin 
 after leaving her ? Had he kept his word ? Had he 
 
 "I think Overton left camp after supper started for 
 the lake," answered some one. 
 
 "Well, we'll do our best to get it straight without him, 
 then. Some of you see what time it is. This man has 
 been dead about a half hour. Mr. Lyster, you had better 
 write down all about it ; and, if any one here has any in- 
 formation to give, let him have it." 
 
 His eyes were on the girl's face, but she said nothing, 
 and he bent to wipe off the stain from the dead man's 
 face. Some one brought water, and in a little while was 
 revealed the decidedly handsome face of a man about 
 forty-five years old. 
 
 "Do any of you know him ?" asked the miner, who, by 
 circumstance, appeared to have been given the office of 
 speaker "look all of you." 
 
 One after another the men approached, but shook their 
 heads; until an old miner, gray-haired and weather- 
 beaten, gave vent to a half -smothered oath at sight of him. 
 
 "Know him?" he exclaimed. "Well, I do, though it's 
 five years since I saw him. Heavens! I'd rather have 
 found him alive than dead, though, for there is a stand- 
 
 19 
 
286 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 ing reward offered for him by two States. Why, it's the 
 card-sharper, horse-thief and renegade Lee Holly!" 
 
 "But who could have killed him?" 
 
 "That is Overton's knife," said one of the men. 
 
 "But Overton had not had it since noon/' said Tana, 
 speaking for the first time in explanation. "I borrowed 
 it then." 
 
 "You borrowed it? For what?" 
 
 "Oh I forget. To cut a stick with, I think." 
 
 "You think. I'm sorry to speak rough to a lady, miss, 
 but this is a time for knowing not thinking." 
 
 "What do you mean by that?" demanded Lyster. 
 
 The man looked at him squarely. 
 
 "Nothing to offend innocent folks," he answered. "A 
 murder has been done in this lady's room, with a knife 
 she acknowledges she has had possession of. It's natu- 
 ral enough to question her first of all." 
 
 The color had crept into her face once more. She knew 
 what the man meant, and knew that the longer they 
 looked on her with suspicion, the more time Overton 
 would have to escape. Then, when they learned they 
 were on a false scent, it would be late too late to start 
 after him. She wished he had taken the money and the 
 gold. She shuddered as she thought him a murderer 
 the murderer of that man ; but, with what skill she could, 
 she would keep them off his track. 
 
 Her thoughts ran fast, and a half smile touched her 
 lips. Even with that dead body at her feet, she was al- 
 most happy at the hope of saving him. The others no- 
 ticed it, and looked at her in wonder. Lyster said : 
 
 "You are right. But Miss Rivers could know nothing 
 of this. She has been with us since the moon rose, and 
 that is more than a half-hour." 
 
THE MURDER 287 
 
 "No, only fifteen minutes," said one of the men. 
 
 "Well, where were you for the half-hour before the 
 moon rose?" asked the man who seemed examiner. 
 "That is really the time most interesting to this case." 
 
 "Why, good heavens, man!" cried Lyster, but 'Tana 
 interrupted : 
 
 "I was walking up on the hill about that time." 
 
 "Alone?" 
 
 "Alone." 
 
 Mrs. Huzzard groaned dismally, and Lyster caught 
 Tana by the hand. 
 
 " 'Tana ! think what you are saying. You don't realize 
 how serious this is." 
 
 "One more question," and the man looked at her 
 very steadily. "Were you not expecting this man to- 
 night?" 
 
 "I sha'n't answer any more of your questions," she 
 answered, coldly. 
 
 Lyster turned on the man with clenched hands and a 
 face white with anger. 
 
 "How dare you insult her with such a question?" he 
 asked, hoarsely. "How could it be possible for Miss 
 Rivers to know this renegade horse-thief?" 
 
 "Well, I'll tell you," said the man, drawing a long 
 breath and looking at the girl. "It ain't a pleasant thing 
 to do; but as we have no courts up here, we have to 
 straighten out crimes in a camp the best way we can. 
 My name is Saunders. That man over there is right 
 this is Lee Holly ; and I am sure now that I saw him leave 
 this cabin last night. I passed the cabin and heard 
 voices hers and a man's. I heard her say: 'While I 
 can't quite decide to kill you myself, I hope some one 
 else will.' The rest of their words were not so clear. I 
 
288 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 told Overton when he came back, but the man was 
 gone then. You ask me how I dare think she could tell 
 something of this if she chose. Well, I can't help it. 
 She is wearing a ring I'll swear I saw Lee Holly wear t 
 three years ago, at a card table in Seattle. I'll swear it ! 
 And he is lying here dead in her room, with a knife 
 sticking in him that she had possession of to-day. Now, 
 gentlemen, what do you think of it yourselves ?" 
 
GOOD-BY 289 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 GOOD-BY. 
 
 "Oh, 'Tana, it is awful awfu\!" and poor Mrs. Huz- 
 zard rocked herself in a spasm of woe. "And to think 
 that you won't say a word not a single word! It just 
 breaks my heart." 
 
 "Now, now! I'll say lots of things if you will talk 
 of something besides murders. And I'll mend your 
 broken heart when this trouble is all over, you will see!" 
 
 "Over! I'm mightily afraid it is only commencing. 
 And you that cool and indifferent you are enough to put 
 one crazy! Oh, if Dan Overton was only here." 
 
 The girl smiled. All the hours of the night had gone 
 by. He had at least twelve hours' start, and the men 
 of the camp had not yet suspected him for even a mo- 
 ment. They had questioned Harris, and he told them, by 
 signs, that no man had gone through his cabin, no one 
 had been in since dark; but he had heard a movement 
 in the other room. The knife he had seen 'Tana take in- 
 to the qther room long before dark. 
 
 "And some one quarreling with this Holly or fol- 
 lowing him may have chanced on it and used it," con- 
 tested Lyster, who was angered, dismayed, and puzzled 
 at 'Tana, quite as much as at the finding of the body. 
 Her answers to all questions were so persistently detri- 
 mental to her own cause. 
 
290 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "Don't be uneasy they won't hang me," she assured 
 him. "Think of them hanging any one for killing Lee 
 Holly ! The man who did it if he knows whom he 
 was settling for was a fool not to face the camp and 
 get credit for it. Every man would have shaken hands 
 with him. But just because there is a little mystery 
 about it, they try to make it out a crime. Pooh !" 
 
 "Oh, child !" exclaimed Mrs. Huzzard, totally scandal- 
 ized. "A murder! Of course it is a crime the great- 
 est." 
 
 "I don't think so, It is a greater crime to bring a 
 soul into the world and then neglect it let it drift into 
 any hell on earth that nets it than it is to send a soul 
 out of the world, to meet heaven, if it deserves it. There 
 are times when murder is justifiable, but there are cer- 
 tain other crimes that nothing could ever justify." 
 
 "Why, Tana!" and Mrs. Huzzard looked at her help- 
 lessly. But Miss Slocum gave the girl a more under- 
 standing regard. 
 
 "You speak very bitterly for a young girl; as if you 
 had thought a great deal on this question." 
 
 "I have," she acknowledged, promptly; "you think it 
 is not a very nice question for girls to study about, 
 don't you ? Well, it isn't nice, but it's true. I happen to 
 be one of the souls dragged into life by people who 
 didn't think they had responsibilities. Miss Slocum, 
 maybe that is why I am extra bitter on the subject." 
 
 "But not not against your parents, 'Tana?" said 
 Mrs. Huzzard, in dismay. 
 
 The girl's mouth drew hard and unlovely at the ques- 
 tion. 
 
 "I don't know much about religion," she said, after 
 a little, "and I don't know that it matters much now 
 
GOOD-BY 291 
 
 don't faint, Mrs. Huzzard! but I'm pretty certain old 
 married men who had families were the ones who laid 
 down the law about children in the Bible. They say 
 'spare the rod and spoil the child,' and then say 'honor 
 your father and mother.' They seem to think it a settled 
 thing that all fathers and mothers are honorable but 
 they ain't; and that all children need beating and they 
 don't." 
 
 "Oh, 'Tana!" 
 
 "And I think it is that one-sided commandment that 
 makes folks think that all the duty must go from children 
 to the parents, and not a word is said of the duty people 
 owe to the souls they bring into the world. I don't 
 think i<?s a square deal." 
 
 "A square deal ! Why, Tana !" 
 
 "Isn't it so?" she asked, moodily. "You think a girl 
 is a pretty hard case if she doesn't give proper respect 
 and duty to her parents, don't you? But suppose they 
 are the sort of people no one can respect what then? 
 Seems to me the first duty is from the parent to the 
 children the duty of caring for them, loving them, and 
 teaching them right. A child can't owe a debt of duty 
 when it never received the duties it should have first, 
 Oh, I may not say this clearly as I feel it." 
 
 "But you know, Tana," said Miss Slocum, "tjiat if 
 there is no commandment as to parents giving care to 
 their children, it is only because it is so plainly a natural 
 thing to do that it was unnecessary to command it." 
 
 "No more natural than for a child to honor any per- 
 son who is honorable, or to love the parent who loves 
 him, and teaches him rightly. Huh! If a child is not 
 able to love and respect a parent, it is the child who 
 loses the most." 
 
292 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 Miss Slocum looked at her sadly. 
 
 "I can't scold you as I would try to scold many a one 
 in your place/' she said, "for I feel as if you must have 
 traveled over some long, hard path of troubles, before 
 you could reach this feeling you have. But, 'Tana, think 
 of brighter things; young girls should never drift into 
 those perplexing questions. They will make you melan- 
 choly if you brood on such things." 
 
 "Melancholy? Well, I think not," and she smiled 
 and shrugged her shoulders. "Seems to me I'm the least 
 gloomy person in camp this morning. All the rest of 
 you look as though Mr. Holly had been your bosom 
 friend." 
 
 She talked recklessly they thought heartlessly of 
 the murder, and the two women were strongly inclined 
 to think the shock of the affair had touched her 
 brain, for she showed no concern whatever as to her 
 own position, but treated it as a joke. And when she 
 realized that she was to a certain extent under guard, 
 she seemed to find amusement in that, too. Her expres- 
 sions, when the cousins grew pitiful over the handsome 
 face of Holly, were touched with ridicule. 
 
 "I wonder if there was ever a man too low and vile 
 to get woman's pity, if he only had a pretty face," she 
 said, caustically. "If he was an ugly, old, half-decent 
 fellow, you wouldn't be making any soft-hearted sur- 
 mises as to what he might have been under different cir- 
 cumstances. He has spoiled the lives of several tender- 
 hearted women like you yet you pity him !" 
 
 " Tana, I never knew you to be so set against any^ 
 one as you are against that poor dead man," declared 
 Mrs. Huzzard. "Not so much wonder the folks think 
 you know how it happened, for you always had a help- 
 
GOOD-BY 
 
 ing word for the worst old tramp or beggarly Indian that 
 came around; but for this man you have nothing but 
 unkindness." 
 
 "No," agreed the girl, "and you would like to think 
 him a romantic victim of somebody, just because he is 
 so good-looking. I'm going to talk to Harris. He won't 
 sympathize with the wrong side, I am sure." 
 
 He looked up eagerly as she entered, his eyes full of 
 anxious question. She touched his hand kindly and sat 
 close beside him as she talked. 
 
 "You want to know all about it, don't you?" she 
 asked, softly. "Well, it is all over. He was alive, after 
 all, and I would not believe it. But now you need 
 never trail him again, you can rest now, for he is dead. 
 Somebody else has has owed him a grudge, too. They 
 think I am the somebody, but you don't believe that?" 
 
 He shook his head decidedly. 
 
 "No," she continued; "though for one moment, Joe, 
 I thought that it might have been you. Yes, I did ; for 
 of course I knew it was only weakness would keep you 
 from it, if you were in reach of him. But I remembered 
 at once that it could not be, for the hand that struck him 
 was strong." 
 
 He assented in his silent way, and watched her face 
 closely, as if to read the shadows of thought thrown on 
 it by her feelings. 
 
 "It's awful, ain't it?" she whispered. "It is what I 
 said I hoped for, and just yet I can't be sorry I can't! 
 But, after this stir is all over, I know it will trouble me, 
 make me sorry because I am not sorry now. I can't 
 cry, but I do feel like screaming. And see! every once 
 in a while my hands tremble ; I tremble all over. Oh, it 
 is awful !" 
 
THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 She buried her face in her hands. Only to him did 
 she show any of the feeling with which the death of the 
 man touched her. 
 
 "And you can't tell me anything of how it was done ?" 
 she said, at last. "You so near did you see any one?" 
 
 She longed to ask if he had seen Overton, but dared 
 not utter his name, lest he might suspect as she did. 
 Each hour that went by was an added gain to her for 
 him. Of course he had struck, not knowing who the 
 man was. If he had known, it would have been so easy 
 to say, "1 found him robbing the cabin. I killed him/' 
 and there would have been no further question concern- 
 ing it. 
 
 "But if all the other bars were beaten down between 
 us, this one would keep me from ever shaking hands 
 with him again. Why should it have been he out of 
 all the camp ? Oh, it makes my heart ache !" 
 
 While she sat thus, with miserable thoughts, others 
 came to the door, and looking up, she saw Akkomi, who 
 looked on her with keen, accusing eyes. 
 
 "No it is not true, Akkomi/' she said, in his own 
 jargon. "Keep silent for a little while of the things 
 these people do not know a little while, and then I can 
 tell you who it is I am shielding, but not yet." 
 
 "Him!" and the eyes of the Indian turned to the 
 paralytic. 
 
 "No not him; truly not," she said, earnestly. ".It 
 is some one you would want to help if you knew 
 some one who is going fast on the path from these peo- 
 ple. They will learn soon it is not I ; but till then, keep 
 silence." 
 
 "Dan where?" he asked, laconically, and her face 
 paled at the question. 
 
GOOD-BY 295 
 
 Had he any reason to suspect the dread in her own 
 mind? But a moment's thought reassured her. He had 
 asked simply because Overton seemed always to him 
 the controlling spirit of the camp, and Overton was the 
 one he would have speech with, if any. 
 
 "Overton left last night for the lake/' explained Lys- 
 ter, who had entered and heard the name of Dan and 
 the 'interrogative tone. Then the blanket was brought 
 to Akkomi his blanket, in which the man had died. 
 
 "I sold it to the white man that is all/' he answered 
 through 'Tana; and more than that he would not say 
 except to inform them he would wait for Dan. Which 
 was, in fact, the general desire of the committee organ- 
 ized to investigate. 
 
 They all appeared to be waiting for Dan. Lyster 
 did not by any means fill his place, simply because Lys- 
 ter's interest in 'Tana was too apparent, and there was 
 little of the cool quality of reason in his attitude toward 
 the mysterious case. He did not believe the ring she 
 wore had belonged to Holly, though she refused to tell 
 the source from which it had reached her. He did not 
 believe the man who said he heard that war of words 
 at her cabin in the evening at least, when others were 
 about, he acted as if he did not believe it. But when 
 he and 'Tana chanced to be alone, she felt the doubt 
 there must be in his mind, and a regret for him touched 
 her. For his sake she was sorry, but not sorry enough 
 to clear the mystery at the expense of that other man 
 she thought she was shielding. 
 
 Captain Leek had been dispatched with all speed to 
 the lake works, that Seldon, Haydon, and Overton 
 might be informed of the trouble in camp, and hasten 
 back to settle it. To send for them was the only thing 
 
296 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 Lyster thought of doing, for he himself felt powerless 
 against the lot of men, who were not harsh or rude in 
 any way, but who simply wanted to know "why" so 
 many "whys" that he could not answer. 
 
 Not less trying to him were the several who per- 
 sisted in asserting that she had done a commendable 
 thing that the country ought to feel grateful to her, 
 for the man had made trouble along the Columbia for 
 years. He and his confederates had done ugly work 
 along the border, etc., etc. 
 
 "Sorry you asked me, Max?" she said, seeing his face 
 grow gloomy under their cheering (?) assertions. 
 
 He did not answer at once, afraid his impatience with 
 her might make itself apparent in his speech. 
 
 "No, I'm not sorry," he said, at last; "but I shall 
 be relieved when the others arrive from the lake. Since 
 you utterly refuse to confide even in me, you render me 
 useless as to serving you; and well I can't feel flat- 
 tered that you confide in me no more than in the strangers 
 here." 
 
 "I know," she agreed, with a little sigh, "it is hard on 
 you, and it will be harder still if the story of this should 
 ever creep out of the wilderness to the country where 
 you come from wouldn't it?" and she looked at him 
 very sharply, noting the swift color flush his face, as 
 though she had read his thoughts. "Yes so it's lucky, 
 Max, that we haven't talked to others about that little 
 conditional promise, isn't it? So it will be easier to for- 
 get, and no one need know." 
 
 "You mean you think me the sort of fellow to break 
 our engagement just because these fools have mixed 
 you up with this horror?" he asked, angrily. "You've 
 no right to think that of me; neither have you the 
 
GOOD-BY 297 
 
 right in justice to me as well as yourself to maintain 
 this very suggestive manner about all things connected 
 with the murder. Why can you not tell more clearly 
 where your time was spent last evening? Why will 
 you not tell where the ring came from? Why will you 
 see me half-frantic over the whole miserable affair, when 
 you could, I am sure, easily change it?" 
 
 "Oh, Max, I don't want to worry you indeed I don't ! 
 But " and she smiled mirthlessly. "I told you once I 
 was a 'hoodoo.' The people who like me are always 
 sure to have trouble brewing for them. That is why 
 I say you had better give me up, Max; for this is only 
 the beginning." 
 
 "Don't talk like that; it is folly," he said, in a sharp 
 tone. " 'Hoodoo !' Nonsense ! When Overton and the 
 others arrive, they will find a means of changing the 
 ideas of these people, in spite of your reticence; and 
 then maybe old Akkomi may find words, too. He sits 
 outside the door as impassive as the clay image you gave 
 me and bewitched me with." 
 
 She smiled faintly, thinking of those days how very 
 long ago they seemed, yet it was this same summer. 
 
 "I feel as if I had lived a long time since I played with 
 that clay," she said, wistfully; "so many things have 
 been made different for me." 
 
 Then she arose and walked about the little room rest- 
 lessly, while the eyes of Harris never left her. Into the 
 other room she had not gone at all, for in it was the dead 
 stranger. 
 
 "When do you look for your uncle and Mr. Haydon?" 
 she asked, at last, for the silences were hardest to en- 
 dure. 
 
298 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 She would laugh, or argue, or ridicule do anything 
 rather than sit silent with questioning eyes upon her. 
 She even grew to fancy that Harris must accuse her 
 he watched her so ! 
 
 "When do we look for them? Well, I don't dare let 
 myself decide. I only hope they may have made a start 
 back, and will meet the captain on his way. As to Dan 
 he had not so very much the start, and they ought to 
 catch up with him, for there were the two Indian canoe- 
 ists the two best ones; and when they are racing over 
 the water, with an object, they surely ought to make 
 better time than he. I can't see that he had any very 
 pressing reason for going at all." 
 
 "He doesn't talk much about his reasons," she an- 
 swered. 
 
 "No; that's a fact," he agreed, "and less of late than 
 when I knew him first. But he'll make Akkomi talk, 
 maybe, when he arrives and I hope you, too." 
 
 "When he arrives !" 
 
 She thought the words, but did not say them aloud. 
 She sat long after Max had left her, and thought how 
 many hours must elapse before they discovered that Dan 
 had not followed the other men to the lake works. She 
 felt sure that he was somewhere in the wilderness, avoid- 
 ing the known paths, alone, and perhaps hating her as 
 the cause of his isolation, because she would not confess 
 what the man was to her, but left him blindly to keep 
 his threat, and kill him when found in her room. 
 
 Ah! why not have trusted him with the whole truth? 
 She asked herself the question as she sat there, but the 
 mere thought of it made her face grow hot, and her 
 jaws set defiantly. 
 
 She would not she could not! so she told herself. 
 
GOOD-BY 299 
 
 Better better far be suspected of a murder live all 
 her life under the blame of it for him than to tell him 
 of a past that was dead to her now, a past she hated, and 
 from which she had determined to bar herself as far as 
 silence could build the wall. And to tell him him she 
 could not. 
 
 But even as she sat, with her burning face in her 
 hands, quick, heavy steps came to the door, halted, and 
 looking up she found Dan before her. 
 
 "Oh ! you should not," she whispered, hurriedly. "Why 
 did you come back? They do not suspect; they think 
 I did it and so " 
 
 "What does this all mean? what do*you mean?" he 
 asked. "Can't you speak?" 
 
 It seemed she could not find any more words, she 
 stared at him so helplessly. 
 
 "Max, come here!" he called, to hasten steps already, 
 approaching. "Come, all of you; I had only a moment 
 to listen to the captain when he caught up with me. But 
 he told me she is suspected of murder that a ring she 
 wore last night helped the suspicion on. I didn't wait 
 to hear any more, for I gave the little girl that snake 
 ring gave it to her weeks ago. I bought it from a 
 miner, and he told me he got it from an Indian near 
 Karlo. Now are you ready to suspect me, too, because 
 I had it first?" 
 
 "The ring wasn't just the most important bit of cir- 
 cumstantial evidence, Mr. Overton," answered the man 
 named Saunders; "and we are all mighty glad you've 
 got here. It was in her room the man was found, and 
 a knife she borrowed from you was what killed him; 
 and of where she was just about the time the thing 
 happened she won't say anything." 
 
300 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 His face paled slightly as he looked at her and heard 
 the brief summing up of the case. 
 
 "My knife?" he said, blankly. 
 
 "Yes, sir. When some one said it was your knife, 
 she spoke up and said it was, but that you had not had 
 it since noon, for she borrowed it then to cut a stickj 
 but beyond that she don't tell a thing." 
 
 "Who is the man?" 
 
 "The renegade Lee Holly." 
 
 "Lee Holly !" He turned a piercing glance on Harris, 
 remembering the deep interest he had shown in that man 
 Lee Holly and his partner, "Monte." 
 
 Harris met his gaze without flinching, and nodded 
 his head as if in assent. 
 
 And that was the man found dead in her room! 
 
 The faces of the people seemed for a moment an indis- 
 tinct blur before his eyes; then he rallied and turned 
 to her. 
 
 " 'Tana, you never did it," he said, reassuringly ; "or 
 if you did, it has been justifiable, and I know it. If it 
 was necessary to do it in any self-defense, don't be 
 afraid to tell it all plainly. No one would blame you. 
 It is only this mystery that makes them want to hear the 
 truth." 
 
 She only looked at him. Was he acting? Did he him- 
 self know nothing? The hope that it was so that she 
 had deceived herself made her tremble as she had not 
 at danger to herself. She had risen to her feet as he 
 entered, but she swayed as if to fall, and he caught her, 
 not knowing it was hope instead of despair that took the 
 color from her face and left her helpless. 
 
 "Courage, Tana! Tell us what you can. I left you 
 
GOOD-BY 301 
 
 just as the moon came up. I saw you go to Mrs. Huz- 
 zard's tent. Now, where did you go after that?" 
 
 "What?" almost shouted Lyster. "You were with 
 her when the moon rose. Are you sure ?" 
 
 "Sure? Of course I am. Why?" 
 
 "And how long before that, Mr. Overton?" asked 
 Saunders; "for that is a very important point." 
 
 "About a half-hour, I should say maybe a little 
 more," he answered, staring at them. "Now, what im- 
 portant thing does that prove?" 
 
 One of the men gave a cheer; three or four had come 
 up to the door when they saw Overton, and they took 
 the yell up with a will. Mrs. Huzzard started to run 
 from the tent, but grew so nervous that she had to 
 wait until Miss Slocum came to her aid. 
 
 "What in the world does it mean?" she gasped. 
 
 Saunders turned around with an honestly pleased look. 
 
 "It means that Mr. Overton here has brought word 
 that clears Miss Rivers of being at the cabin when the 
 murder was done that's what it means; and we are 
 all too glad over it to keep quiet. But why in the world 
 didn't you tell us that, miss?" 
 
 But she did not say a word. All about Dan were 
 exclamations and disjointed sentences, from which he 
 could gain little actual knowledge, and he turned to 
 Lyster, impatiently: 
 
 "Can't you tell me can't some of you tell me, what 
 I have cleared up for her? When was this killing sup- 
 posed to be done?" 
 
 "At or a little before moonrise," said Max, his face 
 radiant once more. " 'Tana don't you know what he 
 has done for you? taken away all of that horribly mis- 
 20 
 
302 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 taken suspicion you let rest on you. Where was she, 
 Dan?" 
 
 "Last night? Oh, up above the bluff there went up 
 when the pretty red lights were in the sky, and staid 
 until the moon rose. I came across her up there, and 
 advised her not to range away alone; so, when she got 
 good and ready, she walked back again, and went to the 
 tent where you folks were. Then I struck the creek, 
 decided I would take a run up the lake, and left with- 
 out seeing any of you again. And all this time 'Tana 
 has had a guard over her. Some of you must have been 
 crazy." 
 
 "Well, then, I guess I was the worst lunatic of the lot," 
 confessed Saunders. "But to tell the truth, Mr. Over- 
 ton, it looks to me now as if she encouraged suspicion 
 yes, it does. 'Overton's knife/ said some one ; but, quick 
 as could be, she spoke up and said it was she who had 
 it, and she didn't mind just where she left it. And as to 
 where she was at that time, well, she just wouldn't give 
 us a bit of satisfaction. Blest if I don't think she wanted 
 us to suspect her." 
 
 "Oh!" he breathed, as if in understanding, and her 
 first words swept back to him, her nervous "Why did 
 you come back? They suspect me!" Surely that cry 
 was as a plea for his own safety; it spoke through eyes 
 and voice as well as words. Some glimmer of the 
 truth came to him. 
 
 "Come, 'Tana!" he said, and reached his hand to her. 
 ''Where is the man Holly? I should like to go in. Will 
 you come, too?" 
 
 She rose without a word, and no one attempted to fol- 
 low them. 
 
 Mrs. Huzzard heaved a prodigious sigh of content. 
 
GOOD-BY 303 
 
 "Oh, that girl Montana!" she exclaimed. "I declare 
 she ain't like any girl I ever did see! This morning, 
 when she was a suspected criminal, she was talky, and 
 even laughed, and now that she's cleared, she won't lift 
 her head to look at any one. I do wonder if that sort of 
 queerness is catching in these woods. I declare I feel 
 most scared enough to leave." 
 
 But Lyster reassured her. 
 
 "Remember how sick she has been; and think what a 
 shock this whole affair has been to weak nerves," he said, 
 for with Dan's revelations he had grown blissfully con- 
 tent once more, "and as for that fellow hearing voices 
 in her cabin nonsense! She had been reading some 
 poem or play aloud. She is fond of reading so, and 
 does it remarkably well. He heard her spouting in there 
 for the benefit of Harris, and imagined she was making 
 threats to some one. Poor little girl! I'm determined 
 she sha'n't remain here any longer." 
 
 "Are you?" asked Mrs. Huzzard, dryly. "Well, Mr. 
 Max, so long as I've known her, I've always found 
 'Tana makes her own determinations and sticks to them, 
 too." 
 
 "I'm glad to be reminded of that," he retorted, "for 
 she promised me yesterday to marry me some time." 
 
 "Bless my soul !" 
 
 "If she didn't change her mind," he added, laughingly. 
 
 "To marry you ! Well, well, well !" and she stared at 
 him so queerly, that a shade of irritation crossed his 
 face. 
 
 "Why not?" he asked. "Don't you think that a plain, 
 ordinary man is good enough for your wild-flower of 
 the Kootenai hills?" 
 
304 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "Oh, you're not plain at all, Mr. Max Lyster," she 
 returned, "and I'll go bail many a woman- who is smarter 
 than either Tana or me has let you know it! It ain't 
 the plainness it's the difference. And well, well! 
 you know you've been quarreling ever since you met." 
 
 "But that is all over now," he promised ; "and haven't 
 you a good wish for us?" 
 
 "Indeed I have, then a many of them, but you have 
 surprised me. I used to think that's how it would end; 
 and then well, then, a different notion got in my head. 
 Now that it's settled, I do hope you will be happy. Bless 
 the child! I'll go and tell her so this minute." 
 
 "No," he said, quickly, "let her and Dan have their 
 talk out if she will talk to him. That fever left her 
 queer in some things, and one of them is her avoidance 
 of Dan. She hasn't been free and friendly with him 
 as she used to be, and it is too bad ; for he is such a good 
 fellow, and would do anything for her." 
 
 "Yes, he would," assented Mrs. Huzzard. 
 
 "And she will be her own spirited self in a few 
 weeks when she gets away from here and gets 
 stronger. She'll appreciate Dan more after a while, 
 for there are few like him. And so as she is to go 
 away so soon, I hope something will put them on their 
 former confidential footing. Maybe this murder will 
 be the something." 
 
 "You are a good friend, Mr. Max," said the woman, 
 slowly, "and you deserve to be a lucky lover. I'm sure 
 I hope so." 
 
 Within the cabin, those two of whom they spoke stood 
 together beside the dead outlaw, and their words were 
 low so low that the paralyzed man in the next room 
 listened in vain. 
 
GOOD-BY 305 
 
 "And you believed that of me of me?" he asked, 
 and she answered, falteringly: 
 
 "How did I know? You said you threatened you 
 would kill him any man you found in here. So, when 
 he was here dead, I did not know." 
 
 "And you thought I had stuck that knife in him and 
 left?" 
 
 She nodded her head. 
 
 "And you thought," he continued, in a voice slightly 
 tremulous, "that you were giving me a chance to escape 
 just so long as you let them suspect you?" 
 
 She did not answer, but turned toward the door. He 
 held his arm out and barred her way. 
 
 "Only a moment !" he said, pleadingly. "It never can 
 be that that I would be anything to you, little girl 
 never, never! But just once let me tell you a truth 
 that shall never hurt you, I swear ! I love you ! No 
 other word but that will tell your dearness to me. I I 
 never would have said it, but but what you risked for 
 me has broken me down. It has told me more than your 
 words would tell me, and I Oh, God! my God!" 
 
 She shrank from the passion in his words and tone, 
 but the movement only made him catch her arm and hold 
 her there. Tears were in his eyes as he looked at her, 
 and his jaws were set firmly. 
 
 "You are afraid of me of me?" he asked. "Don't 
 be. Life will be hard enough now without leaving me 
 that to remember. I'm not asking a word in return 
 from you; I have no right. You will be happy some- 
 where else and with some one else and that is right." 
 
 He still held her wrist, and they stood in silence. She 
 could utter no word; but her mouth trembled and she 
 tried to smother a sob that arose in her throat. 
 
306 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 But he heard it. 
 
 "Don't!" he said, almost in a whisper "for God's 
 sake, don't cry. I can't stand that not your tears. 
 Here! be brave! Look up at me, won't you? See! I 
 don't ask you for a word or a kiss or a thought when 
 you leave me only let me see your eyes! Look at 
 me!" 
 
 What he read in her trembling lips and her shrink- 
 ing, shamed eyes made him draw his breath hard, 
 through his shut teeth. 
 
 "My brave little girl !" he said softly. "You will think 
 harshly of me for this some day if you ever know 
 know all. But what you did this morning made a coward 
 of me that and my longing for you. Try to forgive me. 
 Or, no you had better not. And when you are his wife 
 Oh, it's no use I can't think or speak of that yet. 
 Good-by, little girl good-by 1" 
 
LEAVING CAMP 307 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 LEAVING CAMP. 
 
 Afterward, 'Tana never could remember clearly the 
 incidents of the few days that followed. Only once more 
 she entered the cabin of death, and that was when Mr. 
 Haydon and Mr. Seldon returned with all haste to the 
 camp, after meeting with Captain Leek and the Indian 
 boatman. 
 
 Then, as some of the men offered to go with them 
 to view the remains of the outlaw, she came forward. 
 
 "No. I will take them," she said. 
 
 When Mr. Haydon demurred, feeling that a young 
 girl should be kept as much as possible from such 
 scenes, she had laid her hand on Seldon's arm. 
 
 "Come!" she said, and they went with her. 
 
 But when inside the door, she did not approach the 
 blanket-covered form stretched on the couch; only 
 pointed toward it, and stood herself like a guard at the 
 entrance. 
 
 When Seldon lifted the Indian blanket from the face, 
 he uttered a startled exlamation, and looked strangely at 
 her. She never turned around. 
 
 "What is it?" asked Mr. Haydon. 
 
 No one replied, and as he looked with anxiety toward 
 the form there, his face grew ashen in its horror. 
 
 "Lord in heaven!" he gasped; "first her on that bed 
 
308 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 and now him! I I feel as if I was haunted in this 
 camp. Seldon, is it is it " 
 
 "No mistake possible/' answered the other man, de- 
 cidedly. "I could swear to the identity. It is George 
 Rankin I" 
 
 "And Holly, the renegade!" added Haydon, in con- 
 sternation; "and Lord only knows how many other 
 aliases he has worn. Oh, what a sensation the papers 
 would make over this if they got hold of it all. My! 
 my ! it would be awful ! And that girl, Montana, as she 
 calls herself, she has been clever to keep it quiet as she 
 has, for Oh, Lord!" 
 
 "What is the matter now ? You look fairly sick," said 
 the other, impatiently. "I didn't fancy you'd grieve 
 much over his death." 
 
 "No, it isn't that/' said Haydon, huskily. "But that 
 girl don't you see she was accused of this? And well 
 seeing who he is, how do we know " 
 
 He stopped awkwardly, unable to continue with the 
 girl herself so near and with Seldon's warning glance 
 directed to him. 
 
 She leaned against the wall, and apparently had not 
 heard their words. Seldon's face softened as he looked 
 at her; and, going over, he put his hand kindly on her 
 hair. 
 
 "I am going to be your uncle, now," he said in a caress- 
 ing tone. "You have kept up like a soldier under some 
 terrible things here; but we will try to make things 
 brighter for you now." 
 
 She smiled in a dreary way without looking at him. 
 His knowledge of the terrible things she had endured 
 seemed to her very limited. 
 
 "And you will go now with us with Mr. Haydon 
 
LEAVING CAMP 309 
 
 back to your mother's old home, won't you?" he said, 
 in a persuasive way. "It is not good, you know, for a 
 little girl not to know any of her relations, or to bear 
 such shocking grudges," he added, in a lower tone. 
 
 But she gave him no answering smile. 
 
 "I will go to your house if you will have me," she 
 said. "You and Max are my friends. I will go only 
 with people I like." 
 
 "You know, my dear," said Mr. Haydon, who heard 
 her last words. "You know I offered you a home in 
 my house until such time as you got to school, and and 
 of course, I'll stick to it." 
 
 "Though you are a little afraid to risk it, aren't you?" 
 she asked, with an unpleasant smile. "Haven't you an 
 idea that I might murder you all in your beds some fine 
 night? You know I belong to a country where they do 
 such things for pastime. Aren't you afraid ?" 
 
 "That is a very horrible sort of pleasantry," he an- 
 swered, and moved away from the dead face he had been 
 staring at. "I beg you will not indulge in it, especially 
 when you move in a society more refined than these 
 mining camps can afford. It will be a disadvantage to 
 you if you carry with you customs and memories of this 
 unfinished section. And after all, you do not belong 
 here, your family was of the East. When you go back 
 there, it would be policy for you to forget that you had 
 ever lived anywhere else." 
 
 Mr. Haydon had never made so long a speech to her 
 before, and it was delivered with a certain persistence, 
 as if it was a matter of conscience he would be relieved 
 to have off his mind. 
 
 "I think you are mistaken when you say I do not 
 belong here," she answered, coolly. "Some of my family 
 
310 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 have been a good many things I don't intend to be. I 
 was born in Montana; and I might have starved to 
 death for any help my 'family' would have given me, if 
 I hadn't struck luck and helped myself here in Idaho. 
 So I think I belong out here, and if I live, I will come 
 back again some day." 
 
 She turned to Seldon and pointed to the dead form. 
 
 "They will take him away to-day I heard them say 
 so," she said quietly. "Let it be somewhere away from 
 the camp not near not where I can see." 
 
 "Can't you forget even now, 'Tana?" 
 
 "Does anybody ever forget?" she asked. "When peo- 
 ple say they can forget and forgive, I don't trust them, 
 for I don't believe them." 
 
 "Have you any idea who killed him?" he asked. "It 
 is certainly a strange affair. I thought you might sus- 
 pect some one these people know nothing of." 
 
 But she shook her head. "No," she said. "There were 
 several who would have liked to do it, I suppose people 
 he had wronged or ruined ; for he had few friends left, or 
 he would not have come across to these poor reds to 
 hide. Give old Akkomi part of that gold; he was faith- 
 ful to me and to him, too. No, I don't know who did 
 it. I don't care, now. I thought I knew once; but I 
 was wrong. This way of dying is better than the rope ; 
 and that is what the law would have given him. He 
 would have chosen this I know." 
 
 "Did you ever in your life hear such cold-blooded 
 words from a girl?" demanded Haydon, when she left 
 them and went to Harris. "Afraid of her? Humph! 
 Well, some people would be. No wonder they suspected 
 her when she showed such indifference. Every word 
 she says makes me regret more and more that I acknowl- 
 
LEAVING CAMP 311 
 
 edged her. But how was I to know? She was ill, and 
 made me feel as if a ghost had come before me. I 
 couldn't sleep till I had made up my mind to take the 
 risk of her. Max sung her praises as if she was some 
 rare untrained genius. Nothing gave me an idea that 
 she would turn out this way." 
 
 "'This way' has not damaged you much so far," re- 
 marked Mr. Seldon, dryly. "And as she is not likely 
 to be much of a charge on your hands, you had better 
 not borrow trouble on that score." 
 
 "All very well all very well for you to be indifferent/' 
 returned Mr. Haydon, with some impatience. "You have 
 no family to consider, no matter what wild escapade she 
 would be guilty of, you would not be touched by the 
 disgrace of it, because she doesn't belong in any way to 
 your family." 
 
 "Maybe she will, though," suggested Seldon. 
 
 Mr. Haydon shrugged his shoulders significantly. 
 
 "You mean through Max, don't you?" he asked. 
 "Yes, I was simple enough to build on that myself 
 thought what a nice, quiet way it would be of arranging 
 the whole affair ; but after a talk with this ranger, Over- 
 ton, whom you and Max unite in admiring, I concluded 
 he might be in the way." 
 
 "Overton? Nonsense!" 
 
 "Well, maybe; but he made himself very autocratic 
 when I attempted to discuss her future. He seemed 
 to show a good deal of authority concerning her affairs." 
 
 "Not a bit more than he does over the affairs of their 
 paralyzed partner in there," answered Seldon. "If she 
 always makes as square friends as Dan Overton, I sha'n't 
 quarrel with her judgment." 
 
312 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 When 'Tana left them and went into the other cabin, 
 she stood looking at Harris a long time in a curious, 
 scrutinizing way, and his face changed from doubt to 
 dread before she spoke. 
 
 "I am hardly able to think any more, Joe," she said 
 at last, and her tired eyes accented the truth of her 
 words; "but something like a thought keeps hammering 
 in my head about you about you and " She pointed 
 to the next room. "If you could walk, I should know 
 you did it. If you could talk, I should know you had 
 it done. I wouldn't tell on you; but I'd be ^lad I was 
 going where I would not see you, for I never could 
 touch your hand again. I am going away, Joe; won't 
 you tell me true whether you know who did it? Do 
 you?" 
 
 He shook his head with his eyes closed. He, too, 
 looked pale and worn, and noticing it, she asked if he 
 would not rather move to some other dwelling, since 
 
 He nodded his head with a sort of eagerness. All of 
 the two days and the night he had sat there, with only 
 the folds of a blanket to separate him from the room 
 where his dead foe lay. 
 
 "I will speak to them about it right away." She lifted 
 his hand and stroked it with a sort of sympathy. "Joe, 
 can you forgive him now?" she whispered. 
 
 He made her no reply; only closed his eyes as before. 
 
 "You can't, then? and I can't ask you to, though I 
 suppose I ought to. Margaret would," and she smiled 
 strangely. "You don't know Margaret, do you? Well, 
 neither do I. But I guess she is the sort of girl I ought 
 to be. Joe, I can't stay in camp any longer. Maybe I'll 
 leave for the Ferry to-day. Will you miss me? Yes, I 
 
LEAVING CAMP 313 
 
 know you will," she added, "and I will miss you, too. 
 
 Do you know can you tell when Dan will come back?" 
 
 He shook his head, and an hour later she said to Max : 
 
 "Take me away from here, back to the Ferry any 
 
 place. Mrs. Huzzard will, maybe, come for a few days 
 
 or Miss Slocum. Ask them, and let me go soon." 
 
 And an hour after they had started, another canoe 
 went slowly over the water toward the Kootenai River, 
 .a canoe guided by Akkomi ; and in it lay the blanket- 
 draped figure of the man whose death was yet a mystery 
 to the camp. He was at least borne to his resting place 
 by a friend, though what the reason for Akkomi's faith- 
 fulness, no one ever knew; for some favor in the past, 
 no doubt. Seldon knew that 'Tana wou.d rather Ak- 
 komi should be the one to cover his grave r though where 
 it was made, no white man ever knew. 
 
314 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 ON MANHATTAN ISLAND. 
 
 "What do you intend to make of your life, Montana, 
 since you avoid all questions of marriage? You will not 
 go to school, and care nothing about fitting yourself 
 for the society where by right you should belong." 
 
 A whole winter had gone, and the springtime had 
 come again; and over all the Island of Manhattan, 
 and on the heights back from the rivers, the green of 
 the leaves was creeping over the boughs from which 
 winter had swept all signs of life months ago. 
 
 In a very lovely little room, facing a park where the 
 glitter of a tiny lake could be seen, 'Tana lounged and 
 stared at the waving branches and the fettered water. 
 
 Not just the same 'Tana as when, a year ago, she 
 had breasted the cold waves of the Kootenai. No one, 
 to look at her now, would connect the taller, stylishly 
 dressed figure, with that little half-savage who had 
 scowled at Overton in the lodge of Akkomi. Her hair 
 was no longer short and boyish in its arrangement. A 
 silver comb held it in place, except where the tiny curls 
 crept down to cluster about her neck. A gown of soft 
 white wool was caught at her waist by a flat woven belt 
 of silver, and an embroidered shoe of silvery gleam 
 peeped from under the white folds. 
 
 No, it was not the same Tana. And the little gray- 
 haired lady, who slipped ivory knitting needles in and 
 
ON MANHATTAN ISLAND 315 
 
 out of silky flosses, watched her with troubled concern 
 as she asked : 
 
 "And what do you intend to make of your life, Mon- 
 tana?" 
 
 "You are out of patience with me, are you not, Miss 
 Seldon?" asked the girl. "Oh, yes, I know you are; and 
 I don't blame you. Everything I have ever wanted in 
 my life is in reach of me here everything a girl should 
 have; yet it doesn't mean so much to me as I thought it 
 would." 
 
 "But if you would go to school, perhaps " 
 
 "Perhaps I would learn to appreciate all this," and 
 the girl glanced around at the fine fittings of the room, 
 and then back to the point of her own slipper. 
 
 "But I do study hard at home. Doesn't Miss Acker- 
 man give me credit for learning very quickly ? and doesn't 
 that music teacher hop around and wave his hands over 
 my most excellent, ringing voice? They say I study 
 well." 
 
 "Yes, yes; you do, too. But at a school, my dear, 
 where you would have the association of other girls, 
 you would naturally grow more more girlish yourself, 
 if I may say so; for you are old beyond your years in 
 ways that are peculiar. Your ideas of things are not 
 the ideas of girlhood ; and yet you are very fond of girls." 
 
 "And how do you know that?" asked 'Tana. 
 
 "Why, my dear, you never go past one on the street 
 that you don't give her more notice than the very hand- 
 somest man you might see. And at the matinees, if the 
 play does not hold you very close, your eyes are always 
 directed to the young girls in the audience. Yes, you are 
 fond of them, yet you will not allow yourself to be in- 
 timate with any." 
 
316 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 And the pretty, refined-looking lady smiled at her 
 and nodded her head in a knowing way, as though she 
 had made an important discovery. 
 
 The girl on the couch lay silent for a while, then she 
 rose and went over to the window, gazing across to the 
 park, where people were walking and riding along the 
 green knolls and levels. Young girls were there, too, 
 and she watched them a little while, with the old moody 
 expression in her dark eyes. 
 
 "Perhaps it is because I don't like to make friends 
 under false pretenses/' she said, at last. "Your society 
 is a very fine and very curious thing, and there is a 
 great deal of false pretense about it. Individually, they 
 would overlook the fact that I was accused of murder in 
 Idaho the gold mine would help some of them to do 
 that! But if it should ever get in their papers here, 
 they would collectively think it their duty to each other 
 not to recognize me." 
 
 "Oh, Montana, my dear child, why do you not forget 
 that horrible life, and leave your mind free to partake 
 of the advantages now surrounding you?" and Miss 
 Seldon sighed with real distress, and dropped her ivory 
 needles despairingly. "It seems so strange that you care 
 to remember that which was surely a terrible life." 
 
 "Much more so than you can know," answered the 
 girl, coming over to her and drawing a velvet hassock 
 to her side. "And, my dear, good, innocent little lady, 
 just so long as you all try to persuade me that I should 
 go out among young people of my own age, just so long 
 must I be forced to think of how different my life has 
 been to theirs. Some day they, too, might learn how 
 different it has been, and resent my presence among them. 
 I prefer not to run that risk. I might get to like some 
 
ON MANHATTAN ISLAND 317 
 
 of them, and then it would hurt. Besides, the more I 
 see of people since I came here, the more I feel that 
 every one should remain with their own class in life." 
 
 "But, Montana, that is not an American sentiment 
 at all !" said Miss Seldon, with some surprise. "But 
 even that idea should not exclude from refined circles. 
 By birth you are a lady." 
 
 The girl smiled bitterly. "You mean my mother was," 
 she answered. "But she did not give me a gentleman for 
 a father ; and I don't believe the parents of any of those 
 lovely girls we meet would like them to know the 
 daughter of such a man, if they knew it. Now, do you 
 understand how I feel about myself and this social ques- 
 tion?" 
 
 "You are foolishly conscientious and morbid," ex- 
 claimed the older lady. "I declare, Montana, I don't 
 know what to do with you. People like you you are 
 very clever, you have youth, wealth, and beauty yes, 
 the last, too ! yet you shut yourself up here like a young 
 nun. Only the theaters and the art galleries will you 
 visit never a person not even Margaret." 
 
 "Not even Margaret," repeated the girl; "and that is 
 the crowning sin in your eyes, isn't it? Well, I don't 
 blame you, for she is very lovely; and how much she 
 thinks of you !" 
 
 "Yes!" sighed the little lady. "Mrs. Haydon is a 
 woman of very decided character, but not at all given 
 to loving demonstrations to children. Long ago, when 
 we lived closer, little Margie would come to me daily 
 to be kissed and petted. Max was only a boy then, and 
 they were great companions." 
 
 "Yes; and if he had been sensible, he would have 
 fallen in love with her and made her Mrs. Lyster, in- 
 21 
 
318 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 stead of knocking around Western mining towns, and 
 making queer friends," said the girl, smiling at the old 
 lady's astonished face. "She is just the sort of girl to 
 suit him." 
 
 "My dear," she said, solemnly, "do you really care for 
 him a particle?" 
 
 "Who Max? Of course I do. He is the best fel- 
 low I know, and was so good to me out there in the 
 wilderness. There was no one out there to compare me 
 with, so I suppose I loomed up big when compared with 
 the average squaw. But everything is different here. 
 I did not know how different. I know now, however, 
 and I won't let him go on making a mistake." 
 
 "Oh, Montana!" cried the little lady, pleadingly. 
 
 Just then a maid entered with two cards, at which she 
 glanced with a dismay that was comical. 
 
 "Margaret and Max! Why, is it not strange they 
 should call at the same time, and at a time when " 
 
 "When I was pairing them off so nicely, without their 
 knowledge," added the girl. "Have them come up here, 
 won't you? It is so much more cozy than that very ele- 
 gant parlor. And I always feel as if poor Max had 
 been turned out of his home since I came." 
 
 So they came to the little sitting room pretty, dark- 
 eyed Margaret, with her faultless manners and her real 
 fondness for Miss Seldon, whom she kissed three times. 
 
 "For I have not seen you for three days," she ex- 
 plained, "and those two are back numbers." Then she 
 turned to 'Tana and eyed her admiringly as they clasped 
 hands. 
 
 "You look as though you had stepped from a picture 
 of classic Greek," she declared. "Where in that pretty 
 curly head of yours do you find the ideas for those 
 
ON MANHATTAN ISLAND 319 
 
 artistic arrangements of form and color? You are an 
 artist, Montana, and you don't know it." 
 
 "I will begin to believe i^ if people keep telling me so." 
 
 "Who else has told you?" asked Lyster, and she 
 laughed at him. 
 
 "Not you," she replied; "at least not since you teased 
 me about the clay Indians I made on the shores of the 
 Kootenai. But some one else has told me Mr. Roden." 
 
 "Roden, the sculptor! But how does he know?" 
 
 She glanced from one face to the other, and sighed 
 with a serio-comic expression. "I might as well con- 
 fess," she said, at last. "I am so glad you are here, Miss 
 Margaret, for I may need an advocate. I have been 
 working two hours a day in Mr. Roden's studio for over 
 a month." 
 
 "Montana !" gasped Miss Seldon, "but how when ?" 
 
 "Before you were awake in the morning," she said, 
 and looked from one to the other of their blank faces. 
 "You look as if it were a shock, instead of a surprise," 
 she added. "I did not tell you at first, as it would seem 
 only a whim. But he has told me I have reason for the 
 whim, and that I should continue. So I think I shall." 
 
 "But, my child for you are a child, after all don't 
 you know it is a very strange thing for a girl to go 
 alone like that, and and Oh, dear! Max, can't you 
 tell her?" 
 
 But Max did not. There was a slight wrinkle between 
 his brows, but she saw it and smiled. 
 
 "You can't scold me, though, can you?" she asked. 
 "That is right, for it would be no use. I know you would 
 say that in your set it would not be proper for a girl to 
 do such independent things. But you see, I do not be- 
 long to any set. I have just been telling this dear little 
 
320 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 lady, who is trying to look stern, some of the reasons 
 why society life and I can never agree. But I have 
 found several reasons why Art life and I should agree 
 perfectly. I like the freedom of it the study of it. 
 And, even if I never accomplish much, I shall at least 
 have tried my best." 
 
 "But, Montana, it is not as though you had to learn 
 such things," pleaded Miss Seldon. "You have plenty 
 of money." 
 
 "Oh, money money! But I have found there are a 
 few things in this world money can not buy. Art study, 
 little as I have attempted, has taught me that." 
 
 Lyster came over and sat beside her by the window. 
 
 " Tana," he said, and looked at her with kindly 
 directness, "can the Art study give you that which you 
 crave, and which money can not buy?" 
 
 Her eyes fell to the floor. She could not but feel 
 sorry to go against his wishes ; and yet 
 
 "No, it can not, entirely," she said, at last. "But it 
 is all the substitute I know of, and, maybe, after a 
 while, it will satisfy me." 
 
 Miss Seldon took Margaret from the room on some 
 pretext, and Lyster rose and walked across to the other 
 window. He was evidently much troubled or annoyed. 
 
 "Then you are not satisfied?" he asked. "The life that 
 seemed possible to you, when out there in camp, is im- 
 possible to you now." 
 
 "Oh, Max! don't be angry don't. Everything was 
 all wrong out there. You were sorry for me out there ; 
 you thought me different from what I am. I could 
 never be the sort of girl you should marry not like 
 Margaret" 
 
ON MANHATTAN ISLAND 321 
 
 "Margaret!" and his face paled a little, "why do you 
 speak of her?" 
 
 "I know, if you do not, Max," she answered, and 
 smiled at him. "I have learned several things since I 
 came here, and one of them is Mr. Haydon's reason for 
 encouraging our friendship so much. It was to end any 
 attachment between you and Margaret. Oh, I know, 
 Max! If I had not looked just a little bit like her, you 
 would never have fancied you loved me for it was only 
 a fancy." 
 
 "It was no fancy ! I did love you. I was honest with 
 you, and I have waited patiently, while you have grown 
 more and more distant until now " 
 
 "Now we had better end it all, Max. I could not make 
 you happy, for I am not happy myself." 
 
 "Perhaps I" 
 
 "No, you can not help me; and it is not your fault. 
 You have been good to me very good; but I can't 
 marry any one." 
 
 "No one?" he asked, looking at her doubtfully. 
 1 Tana, sometimes I have fancied you might have cared 
 for some one else some one before you met me." 
 
 "No, I cared for no one before I met you," she 
 answered, slowly. "But I could not be happy in the 
 social life of your people here. They are charming, but 
 I am not suited to their life. And and I can't go back 
 to the hills. So, in a month, I am going to Italy." 
 
 "You have it all decided, then?" 
 
 "All don't be angry, Max. You will thank me for it 
 some day, though I know our friends will think badly 
 of me just now." 
 
 "No, they shall not; you are breaking no promises. 
 You took me only on trial, and it seems I don't suit," 
 
322 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 he said, with a grimace. "I will see that you are not 
 blamed. And so long as you do not leave America, I 
 should like you to remain here. Don't let anything be 
 changed in our friendship, 'Tana." 
 
 She turned to him with tears in her eyes, and held out 
 her hand. 
 
 "You are too good to me, Max," she said, brokenly. 
 "God knows what will become of me when I leave you 
 all and go among foreign faces, among whom I shall not 
 have a friend. I hope to work and be contented; but 
 I shall never meet a friend like you again." 
 
 He drew her to him quickly. 
 
 "Don't go!" he whispered, pleadingly. "I can't let 
 you go out into the world alone like that! I will love 
 you care for you " 
 
 "Hush!" and she put her hand on his face to push it 
 away; "it is no use, arid don't do that try to kiss me; 
 you must not. No man has ever kissed me, and you " 
 
 "And I sha'n't be the first," he added, shrugging his 
 shoulders. "Well, I confess I hoped to be, and you are 
 a greater temptation than you know, Miss Montana. 
 And you ought to pardon me the attempt." 
 
 Her face was flushed and shamed. "I could pardon 
 a great deal in you, Max," she answered; "but don't 
 speak of it again. Talk to me of other things." 
 
 "Other things? Well, I haven't many other things in 
 my mind just now. Still, I did see some one down town 
 this morning whom you rather liked, and who asked 
 after you. It was Mr. Harvey, the writer, whom we 
 met first at Bonner's Ferry, up in the Kootenai land. 
 Do you remember him?" 
 
 "Certainly. We met him afterward at one of the art 
 galleries, and I have seen him several times at Roden's 
 
ON MANHATTAN ISLAND 323 
 
 studio. They are great friends. He looked surprised 
 to find me there, but, after I spoke to him, he talked to 
 me a great deal. You know, Max, I always imagine he 
 heard that suspicion of me up at the camp. Do you think 
 so?" 
 
 "He never intimated it to me," answered Max ; "though 
 Haydon nearly went into spasms of fear lest he would 
 put it all in some paper." 
 
 "I remember. He would scarcely allow me breathing 
 space for fear the stranger would get near enough to 
 speak to me again. I remember all that journey, be- 
 cause when I reached the end of it, the past seemed like 
 a troubled dream, for this life of fineness and beauty 
 and leisure was all so different." 
 
 "And yet you are not contented?" 
 
 "Oh, don't talk of that of me !" she begged. "I am 
 tired of myself. I just remembered another one on the 
 train that journey the little variety actress who had her 
 dresses made to look cute and babyish the one with 
 bleached hair, and they called her Goldie. She looked 
 scared to death when he Overton stopped at the win- 
 dow to say good-by. I often wondered why." 
 
 "Oh, you know Dan was a sort of sheriff, or law- 
 and-order man, up there. He might have known her 
 unfavorably, and she was afraid of being identified by 
 him, or something of that sort. She belonged to the 
 rougher element, no doubt." 
 
 "Max, it makes me homesick to think of that country," 
 she confessed. "Ever since the grass has commenced 
 to be green, and the buds to swell, it seems to me all the 
 woods are calling me. All the sluggish water I see 
 here in the parks and the rivers makes me dream of 
 the rush of the clear Kootenai, and long for a canoe and 
 
32-4 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 paddle. Contrive something to make me forget it, won't 
 you? Make up a party to go somewhere anywhere. 
 I will be caval'er to your lovely little aunt, and leave you 
 to Margaret." 
 
 "I asked you before why you speak of Margaret and 
 me in that tone?" he said. "Are you going to tell me? 
 You have no reason but your own fancy." 
 
 "Haven't I? Well, this isn't fancy, Max that I 
 would like to see my cousin you see, I claim them for 
 this once happy in her own way, instead of unhappy 
 in the life her ambitious family are trying to arrange for 
 her. And I promise to trade some surplus dust for a 
 wedding present just as soon as you conclude to spoil 
 their plans, and make yourself and that little girl and 
 your aunt all happy by a few easily spoken words." 
 
 "But I have just told you I love you." 
 
 "You will know better some day," she said, and turned 
 away. "Now go and pacify your aunt, won't you? She 
 seemed so troubled about the modeling bless her dear 
 heart! I didn't want to trouble her, but the work 
 some work was a necessity to me. I was growing so 
 homesick for the woods." 
 
 After she was left alone, she drew a letter from her 
 pocket, one she had got in the morning mail, and read 
 over again the irregular lines sent by Mrs. Huzzard. 
 
 "I got Lavina to write you the letter at Christmas, 
 because I was so tickled with all the things you sent me 
 that I couldn't write a straight line to save me; and you 
 know the rheumatiz in my ringer makes it hard work 
 for me sometimes. But maybe hard work and me is 
 about done with each other, 'Tana; though I'll tell you 
 more of that next time. 
 
 "I must tell you Mr. Harris has got better can talk 
 some and walk around; can't move his left arm any 
 
ON MANHATTAN ISLAND 325 
 
 yet. But Mr. Dan sent for two fine doctors, and they 
 tried to help him with electricity. And I was scared for 
 fear lightning might strike camp after that ; but it didn't. 
 Lavina is here still, and likely to stay. She's a heap of 
 company; and she and Captain Leek are better friends 
 than they was. 
 
 "There is a new man in camp now; he found a silver 
 mine down near Bonner's Ferry, and sold it out well. 
 He was a farmer back in Indiana, and has been on a 
 visit to our camp twice. Mr. Dan says it's my cooking 
 fetches him. Everything is different here now. Mr. 
 Dan got sawed lumber, and put me up a nice little house ; 
 and up above the bluff he has laid out a place where he 
 is going to build a stone house, just as if he intends to 
 live and die here. He doesn't ever seem to think that 
 he has enough made now to rest all his days. Some- 
 times I think he ain't well. Sometimes, 'Tana, I think it 
 would cheer him up if you would just write him a few 
 lines from time to time. He always says, 'Is she well?' 
 when I get a letter from you; and about the time I'm 
 looking for your letters he's mighty regular about get- 
 ting the mail here. 
 
 "That old Akkomi went south when winter set in, and 
 we reckon he'll be back when the leaves get green. His 
 whole village was drunk for days on the money you had 
 Mr. Seldon give him, and he wore pink feathers from 
 some millinery store the last time I saw him. But Mr. 
 Dan is always patient with him whether he is drunk or 
 sober. 
 
 "I guess that's all the news. Lavina sends her 
 respects. And I must tell you that on Christmas they 
 got some whisky, and all the boys drank your health 
 and drank it so often Mr. Dan had to give them a talking 
 to. They think a heap of you. Yours with affection, 
 
 "LORENA JANE HUZZARD. 
 
 "P. S. William McCoy is the name of the stranger I 
 spoke of. The boys call him Bill." 
 
326 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 OVER-TON'S WIFE. 
 
 A few hours later, 'Tana sat in a box at the theater; 
 for the party she had suggested had been arranged, and 
 pretty Miss Margaret was radiant over the evening 
 planned for her, and 'Tana began to enjoy her role of 
 matchmaker. She had even managed to tell Margaret, 
 in a casual manner, that Miss Seldon's idea of a decided 
 engagement between herself and Max had never a very 
 solid foundation, and now had none at all. He was her 
 good friend that was all, and she was to leave for Italy 
 in a month. 
 
 And Margaret went up to her and kissed her, looking 
 at her with puzzled, admiring eyes. 
 
 "They tried at home to make me think very differ- 
 ently," she said. "But you are a queer girl, Miss Mon- 
 tana. You have told me this on purpose, and " 
 
 "And I want to hear over in Italy that you are going 
 to make a boy I like very happy some of these days. 
 Remember, Margaret, you are or will be a million- 
 airess, while he has not more than a comfortable in- 
 come; and boys even when they are in love can be 
 proud. Will you think of that?" 
 
 Margaret only blushed and turned away, but the 
 answer was quite satisfying to 'Tana, and she felt freer 
 because her determination had been put into words, and 
 the last bond connecting her with the old life was to be 
 
OVERTON'S WIFE 327 
 
 broken. Ever since the snows had gone, some cord of 
 her heart-string had been drawing all her thoughts to 
 those Northern hills, and she felt the only safety was to 
 put the ocean between them and her. 
 
 The home Mr. Seldon had offered her with his sister 
 was a very lovely one, but to it there came each week 
 letters about the mines and the people there. Mr. Seldon 
 had already gone out, and would be gone all summer. As 
 he was an enthusiast over the beauties and the returns of 
 the country, his letters were full of material that she 
 heard discussed each day. Therefore, the only safety 
 for herself lay in flight ; and if she did not go across the 
 ocean to the East, she would surely grow weaker and 
 more homesick until she would have to turn coward en- 
 tirely and cross the mountains to her West. 
 
 Realizing it all, she sat in her dainty array of evening 
 dress and watched with thoughts far away the mimic 
 scene of love triumphant on the stage before her. When, 
 on the painted canvas, a far-off snow-crowned mountain 
 rose to their view, her heart seemed to creep to her throat 
 and choke her, and when the orchestra breathed softly 
 of the winds, music, and the twittering of birds, the tears 
 rose to her eyes and a great longing in her heart for all 
 the wild beauty of her Kootenai land. 
 
 Then, just as the curtain went down on the second 
 act, some one entered their box. 
 
 "You, Harvey?" said Max, with genuine pleasure. 
 "Good of you to look me up. Let me introduce you to 
 my aunt and Miss Haydon. You and Miss Rivers are 
 old acquaintances." 
 
 "Yes; and that fact alone has brought me here just 
 now," he managed to say to Lyster. "To confess the 
 truth, I have been to see Miss Rivers at her home this 
 
328 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 evening, having got her address from Roden, and then 
 had the assurance to follow her here. You may be sure 
 I would not have spoiled your evening for any trivial 
 thing, but I come because of a woman who is dying." 
 
 "A woman who is dying?" repeated Tana, in wonder, 
 "And why do you come to me?" 
 
 "She wants to see you. I think to tell you some- 
 thing." 
 
 "But who is it?" asked Lyster. "Some beggar?" 
 
 "She is a beggar now at least," agreed Mr. Harvey 
 "a poor woman dying. She said only to tell Miss Rivers, 
 and here is a line she sent." 
 
 He gave her a slip of paper, and on it was written : 
 
 "Come and take some word to Dan Overton for me. I 
 am dying. OVERTONES WIFE." 
 
 She arose, and Margaret exclaimed at the whiteness 
 of her face. 
 
 "Oh, my dear," sighed Miss Seldon, "you know how 
 I warned you not to give your charities individually 
 among the beggars of a city. It is really a mistake. 
 They have no consideration, and will send for you at all 
 hours if you will go. It is so much better to distribute 
 charity through some organization." 
 
 But 'Tana was tying her opera cloak, and moving 
 toward the entrance. 
 
 "I am going," she said. "Don't worry. Is it far, Mr. 
 Harvey ? If not, perhaps I can be back to go home with 
 you when the curtain goes down." 
 
 "It is not far," he answered. "Will you come, Lyster ?" 
 
 "No!" said 'Tana; "you stay with the others, Max. 
 Don't look vexed. Maybe I can be of some use, and 
 that is what I need." 
 
 Many heads turned to look at the girl whose laces 
 
OVERTON'S WIFE 329 
 
 were so elegant, and whose beautiful face wore such a 
 startled, questioning expression. But she hurried out of 
 their sight, and gave a little nervous shiver as she 
 wrapped her white velvet cloak close about her and sank 
 into a corner of the carriage. 
 
 "Are you cold?" Harvey asked, but she shook her 
 head. 
 
 "No. But tell me all." 
 
 "There is not much. I was with a doctor a friend of 
 mine who was called in to see her. She recognized 
 me. It is the little variety actress who came over the 
 Great Northern, on our train." 
 
 "Oh ! But how could she know me ?" 
 
 "She did not know your name ; she only described you, 
 remembering that I had talked with you and your friends. 
 When I told her you were in the city, she begged so for 
 you to come that I could not refuse to try." 
 
 "You did right," she answered. "But it is very 
 strange very strange." 
 
 Then the carriage stopped before a dingy house in 
 a row that had once belonged to a very fashionable 
 quarter, but that was long ago. Boarding houses they 
 were now, and their class was about number three. 
 
 "It is a horrible place to bring you to, Miss Rivers," 
 confessed her guide; "and I am really glad Miss Seldon 
 did not accompany you, for she never would have for- 
 given either of us. But I knew you would not be afraid." 
 
 "No, I am not afraid. But, oh, why don't they hurry ?" 
 
 He had to ring the bell the second time ere any one 
 came to the door. Then, as the harsh jangle died away, 
 steps were heard descending the stairs, and a man with- 
 out a coat and with a pipe in his mouth, shot back the 
 bolt with much grumbling. 
 
330 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "I'll cut the blasted wire if some one in the shebang" 
 don't tend to this door better," he growled to a lady 
 with a mug of beer, who just then emerged from the 
 lower regions. "Me a-trying to get the lines of that 
 new afterpiece in my head chock-full of business, too! 
 and that bell clanging forever right under my room. 
 I'll move!" 
 
 "I wish you would," remarked Harvey, when the door 
 opened at last. "Move a little faster when you do con- 
 descend to open the door. Come, Miss Rivers up 
 this way." 
 
 And the lady of the beer mug and the gentleman of 
 the pipe stared at each other, and at the white vision of 
 girlhood going up the dark, bad-smelling stairway. 
 
 "Well, that's a new sort in this castle," remarked the 
 man. "Do you guess the riddle of it?" 
 
 The woman did not answer, but listened to the foot- 
 steps as they went along the hall. Then a door opened 
 and shut. 
 
 "They've gone to Goldie's room," she said. "That's 
 queer. Goldie ain't the sort to have very high-toned 
 friends, so it can't be a long-lost sister," and she smiled 
 contemptuously. 
 
 "She's a beauty, anyway, and I'm going to see her 
 when she makes her exit, if I have to sit up all night." 
 
 "Oh! And what about the afterpiece?" 
 
 "To the devil with the afterpiece ! It hasn't any angels 
 in it." 
 
 Inside Goldie's room, a big Dutch blonde in a soiled 
 blue wrapper sat by the bed, and stared in open-mouthed 
 surprise at the new-comers. 
 
 "Is it you she's been askin' for?" she asked, bluntly. 
 
 But Tana did not reply, and Harvey got the blonde 
 
OVERTON'S WIFE 331 
 
 to the door, and after a few whispered words, induced 
 her to go out altogether, and closed the door behind her. 
 
 "I thought you'd come," whispered the little woman 
 on the bed. "I thought the note would bring you. I 
 saw you talk to him, and I dropped to the game. You're 
 square, too, ain't you? That's the kind I want now. 
 That swell who went for you is the right sort, too. I 
 minded his face and yours. But tell him to go out for 
 a minute. It won't take long to tell you." 
 
 Harvey went, at a motion from 'Tana. She had not 
 uttered a word yet. All she could do was to stare in 
 wonder at the wreck of a woman before her a painted 
 wreck; for, even on her deathbed, the ghastly face was 
 tinted with rouge. 
 
 "I can't get well doctor says," she continued. "There 
 was a baby; it died yesterday three hours old; and I 
 can't get well. But there is another one I want to tell 
 you of. You tell him. It is two years old. Here is 
 the address. Maybe he will take care of it for me. He 
 was good-hearted that's why he married me; thought 
 I was only a little girl without a home. Any woman 
 could fool him, for he thought all women were good. 
 He thought I was only a little girl; and I had been 
 married three years before." 
 
 She smiled at the idea of that past deception, while 
 'Tana's face grew hard and white. 
 
 "How you look !" said the dying woman. "Well, it's 
 over now. He never cared for me much, though not 
 so much as others did. He was never my real husband, 
 you know, for I never had a divorce. He thought he 
 was, though; and even after he left me, he sent me 
 money regular for me to live quiet in 'Frisco, but it 
 didn't suit me. Then he got turned dead against me 
 
332 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 when I tried to make him think the child was his. He 
 wouldn't do anything for me after that; I had cheated 
 him once too often." 
 
 "And was it ?" It was the first time 'Tana had spoken, 
 and the woman smiled. 
 
 "You care, too, do you? Well, yes, it was. You tell 
 him so; tell him I said so, and I was dying. He'll take 
 care of her, I think. She's pretty, but not like me. He 
 never saw her. She's with a woman in Chicago, where 
 I boarded. I haven't paid her board now for months, but 
 it's all right; the woman's a good soul. Dan Overton 
 will pay when you tell him." 
 
 "You write an order for that child, and tell the woman 
 to give it to me," said 'Tana, decidedly, and looked around 
 for something to write with. A sheet of paper was 
 found, and she went to Harvey for a pencil. 
 
 ' 'Most ready to go ?" he asked, looking at her 
 anxiouslj 
 
 She nodded her head, and shut the door. 
 
 "But I can't write now ; my hands are too weak," com- 
 plained the woman. "I can't." 
 
 "You've got to!" answered the girl; and, taking her 
 in her strong young hands, she raised her up higher on 
 the pillow. "There is the paper and pencil now write." 
 
 "It will kill me to lay like this." 
 
 "No matter if it does; you write." 
 
 "You're not a woman at all; you're like iron white 
 iron," whined the other. "Any woman with a heart " 
 and the weak tears came in her eyes. 
 
 "No, I have no heart to be touched by you," answered 
 the girl. "You had a chance to live a decent life, and 
 you wouldn't take it. You had an honest man to trust 
 
OVERTON'S WIFE 333 
 
 you and take care of you, and you paid him with deceit. 
 Don't expect pity from me ; but write that order." 
 
 She tried to write but could not, and the girl took the 
 pencil. 
 
 "I will write it, and you can sign it," she said; "that 
 will do as well." 
 
 Thus it was accomplished, and the woman was again 
 laid lower in the bed. 
 
 "You are terrible hard on on folks that ain't just 
 square," she said. "You needn't be so proud; you ain't 
 dead yet yourself. You .don't know what may happen 
 you." 
 
 "I know," said the girl, coldly, "that if I ever brought 
 children into the world, to be thrown on strangers' hands 
 and brought up in the streets to live your sort of life, I 
 would expect a very practical sort of hell prepared for 
 me. Have you anything more to tell me ? I'm going." 
 
 "Oh h ! I wish you hadn't said that about hell. I'm 
 dreadful afraid of hell," moaned the woman. 
 
 "Yes," said the girl; "you ought to be." 
 
 "How hard you are ! And the doctor said I would die 
 to-night." 
 
 Then she lay still quite a while, and when she spoke 
 again, her voice seemed weaker. 
 
 "You have that order for Gracie, and you are so hard- 
 hearted. I don't know what you will do and I don't 
 want her to grow up like me." 
 
 "That is the first womanly thing I have heard you say," 
 replied the girl. 
 
 She went over to the bed and took the woman's hands 
 in hers, looking at her earnestly. 
 
 "Your child shall have a beautiful and a good home," 
 she said, reassuringly. "I am going for her myself to- 
 
 22 
 
334 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 morrow, and she will never lack care again. Have you 
 any other word to give me?" 
 
 The woman shook her head, and then as 'Tana turned 
 away, she said: 
 
 "Not unless you would kiss me. You are not like 
 other women; but will you kiss me?" 
 
 And, with the pressure of the dying kiss on her lips, 
 'Tana went out the door. 
 
 "Please give her every care money can secure for her," 
 she said to the woman at the door ; while the man, minus 
 the pipe, was there to open it. 
 
 "Mr. Harvey, can I trouble you to look after it for 
 me? You know the doctor and can learn all that is 
 needed. Have the bills sent to me ; and let me know when 
 it is all over." 
 
 They reached the theater just as the curtain went 
 down on the last act, and she remained in the carriage 
 until her own party came out. 
 
 "I can hardly thank you enough for coming after me 
 to-night," she said, as she shook hands very cordially 
 with Harvey. "You can never be a mere acquaintance 
 to me again. You are my friend." 
 
 "Have I ignorantly done some good?" he asked, and 
 she smiled at him. 
 
 "Yes more than you know more than I can tell 
 you." 
 
 "Then may I hope not to be forgotten when you are 
 in Italy?" 
 
 "Oh !" and the color flushed over all the pallor caught 
 from that deathbed. "But I I don't think I will go 
 to Italy after all, Mr. Harvey. I have changed my mind 
 about that, and think I will go back to the Kootenai 
 hills instead." 
 
LIFE AT TWIN SPRINGS 335 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 LIFE AT TWIN SPRINGS. 
 
 Over all the land of the Kootenai the sun of early June 
 was shining. Trees of wild fruits were white with blos- 
 soms, as if from far above on the mountains the snows 
 had blown down and settled here and there on the new 
 twigs of green. 
 
 And high up above the camp of the Twin Springs, 
 Overton and Harris sat looking over the wide stretches 
 of forest, and the younger man looked troubled. 
 
 "I think your fear is all an empty affair," he said, in 
 an argumentative tone. "You eat well and sleep well. 
 What gives you the idea you are to be called in soon." 
 
 "Several things," said the other, slowly, and his speech 
 was yet indistinct; "but most of all the feel of my feet 
 and legs. A week ago my feet turned cold; this week 
 the coldness is up to my knees, and it won't go away. I 
 know what it means. When it gets as high as my heart 
 I'll be done for. That won't take long, Dan; and I 
 want to see her first." 
 
 "She can't help you." 
 
 "Yes, she can, too. You don't know. Dan, send for 
 her." 
 
 "Things are all different with her now," protested the 
 other. "She's with friends who are not of the diggings 
 or the ranges, Joe. She is going to marry Max Lyster ; 
 and, altogether, is not the same little girl who made our 
 
336 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 coffee for us down there in the flat. You must not ex- 
 pect that she will change all her new, happy life to run 
 back here just because you want to talk to her." 
 
 "She'll come if you telegraph I want her," insisted 
 Harris. "I know her better than you do, Dan. The 
 fine life will never spoil her. She would be happier here 
 to-day in a canoe than she would be on a throne. I know 
 her best." 
 
 "She wasn't very happy before she left here." 
 
 "No," he agreed ; "but there were reasons, Dan. Why 
 are you so set against her coming back?" 
 
 "Set against it? Oh, no." 
 
 "Yes, you are. Airs. Huzzard and all the camp would 
 be only too glad to see her ; but you you say no. What's 
 your reason?" 
 
 "Joe, not many months ago you tried to make me sus- 
 picious of her," said Overton, not moving his eyes from 
 a distant blue peak of the hills. "You remember the day 
 you fell in a heap? Well, I've never asked you your 
 reasons for that ; though I've thought of it considerably. 
 You changed your mind about her afterward, and trusted 
 her with the plan of this gold field down here. Now, you 
 had reasons for that, too; but I never ; have asked you 
 what they are. Do the same for me, will you?" 
 
 The other man did not answer for a little while, but he 
 watched Dan's moody face with a great deal of kindness 
 in his own. 
 
 "You won't tell me?" he said at last. "Well, that's 
 all right. But one of the reasons I want her back is to 
 make clear to you all the unexplained things of last 
 summer. There were things you should have been told 
 that would have made you two better friends, would 
 have broken down the wall there always seemed to be 
 
LIFE AT TWIN SPRINGS 33T 
 
 between you or nearly always. (She wouldn't tell you, 
 and I couldn't.) It left her always under a cloud to 
 you, and she felt it. Many a time, Dan, she has knelt 
 beside me and cried over her troubles to me and they 
 were troubles, too! telling them all to me just because 
 I couldn't speak and tell them again. And I won't, un- 
 less she lets me. But I don't want to go over the range 
 and know that you two, all your lives, will be apart and 
 cold to each other on account of suspicions I could clear 
 away." 
 
 "Suspicions? No, I have no suspicions against her/' 
 
 "But you have had many a troubled hour because of 
 that man found dead in her room, and his visit to her the 
 night before, and that money she asked for that he was 
 after. All such things that you could not clear her of 
 in your own mind, when you cleared her of murder-r 
 they are things I want straightened out before I leave, 
 Dan. You have both been good friends to me, and I 
 don't want any bar between you." 
 
 "What does all that matter now, Joe? She is out of 
 our lives, and in a happier one some one else is making 
 for her. I am not likely ever to see her again. She 
 won't come back here." 
 
 "I know her best; she will come if she is needed. I 
 need her for once; and if you don't send for her, I will, 
 Dan. Will you send?" 
 
 But Overton got up and walked away without answer- 
 ing. Harris thought he would turn back after a little 
 while, but he did not. He watched him out of sight, 
 and he was still going higher up in the hills. 
 
 "Trying to walk away from his desire for her," thought 
 Joe, sadly. "Well, he never will. He thinks I don't 
 know. Poor Dan!" 
 
338 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 Then he whistled to a man down below him, and the 
 man came and helped him down to camp, for his feet had 
 grown helpless again in that strange chill of which he 
 had spoken. 
 
 Mrs. Huzzard met him at the door of a sitting room, 
 gorgeous as an apartment could well be in the Northern 
 wilderness. All the luxuries obtainable were there; for, 
 as Harris had to live so much of his time indoors, Over- 
 ton seemed determined that he should get benefit from his 
 new fortune in some way. The finest of furs and of 
 weavings furnished the room, and a dainty little stand 
 held a tea service of shell-pink china, from which the 
 steam floated cheerily. 
 
 And Lorena Jane herself partook of the general air of 
 prosperity, as she drew forward a great cushioned chair 
 for the invalid and brought him a cup of fragrant tea. 
 
 "I just knew you was tired the minute I saw you com- 
 ing down that hill," she said, filling a cup herself and 
 sitting down to enjoy it. "I knew a cup of tea would 
 <io you good, for you ain't quite so brisk as you was a 
 few weeks ago." 
 
 "No," he agreed, and gulped down the beverage with 
 a dubious expression on his face. He very much pre- 
 ferred whisky as a tonic ; but as Mrs. Huzzard was bound 
 to use that new tea service every day for his benefit, he 
 submitted without a protest and enjoyed most the num- 
 ber of cups she disposed of. 
 
 "I suppose, now, you got sight from up there on the 
 hill of the two young folks going boat riding?" she re- 
 marked, with attempted indifference; and he looked at 
 her questioningly. 
 
 "Oh, I mean Lavina and the captain! Yes, he did 
 
LIFE AT TWIN SPRINGS 339 
 
 get up ambition enough to paddle a boat and ask her to 
 ride in it; and away they went, giddy as you please!" 
 
 "I thought you had a high regard for the captain?" 
 remarked Harris. 
 
 "Who? Me? Well, as Mr. Overton's relation, of 
 course I show him respect," and her tone was almost as 
 pompous as that of the captain used to be. "But I must 
 say, sir, that to admire a man for me to admire a man 
 he must have a certain lot of push and ambition. 
 He must be a real American, who don't depend on the 
 record of his dead relations to tell you how great he is 
 a man who will dig either gold or potatoes if he needs 
 them, and not be afraid of spoiling his hands." 
 
 "Somebody like this new lucky man, McCoy," sug- 
 gested Harris, and she smiled complacently but did not 
 answer. 
 
 And out on the little creek, sure enough, Lavina and 
 the captain were gliding with the current, and the cur- 
 rent had got them into dangerous waters. 
 
 "And you won't say yes, Lavina?" he asked, and she 
 tapped her foot impatiently on the bottom of the boat. 
 
 "I told you yes twenty-five years ago, Alf Leek," she 
 answered. 
 
 He sighed helplessly. His old aggressive manner was 
 all gone. The tactics he would adopt for any other 
 woman were useless with this one. She knew him like 
 a book. She had him completely cowed and miserable. 
 No longer did he regale admiring friends with tales of 
 the late war, and incidentally allow himself to be thought 
 a hero. One look from Lavina would freeze the story 
 of the hottest battle that ever was fought. 
 
 To be sure, she had as yet refrained from using words 
 against him; but how long would she refrain? That 
 
340 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 question he had asked himself until, in despair, a loop- 
 hole from her quiet vengeance had occurred to him, and 
 he had asked her to marry him. 
 
 "You never could would marry any one else," he 
 said, pleadingly. 
 
 "Oh, couldn't I?" 
 
 "And I couldn't, either, Lavina," he continued, looking 
 at her sentimentally. But Lavina knew better. 
 
 "You would, if anybody would have you," she re- 
 torted. "I know I reached here just in time to keep 
 poor Lorena Jane from being made a victim of. You 
 would have been a tyrant over her, with your great pre- 
 tensions, if I hadn't stopped it. You always were tyran- 
 nical, Alf Leek ; and the only time you're humble as you 
 ought to be is when you meet some one who can tyran- 
 nize over you. You are one of the sort that needs it." 
 
 "That's why I asked you to marry me," he remarked, 
 meekly. 
 
 And after a moment she said : 
 
 "Well, thinking of it from that point of view, I guess 
 I will." 
 
 Far up on the heights, a man lying there alone saw 
 the canoe with the man and the woman in it, and it 
 brought back to him keen rushes of memory from the 
 summer time that had been. It was only a year ago 
 that 'Tana had stepped into his canoe, and gone with him 
 to the new life of the settlement. How brave she had 
 been ! how daring ! He liked best to remember her as she 
 had been then, with all the storms and sunshine of her 
 face. He liked to remember that she had said she would 
 be cook for him, but for no other man. Of course her 
 words were a child's words, soon forgotten by her. But 
 all her words and looks and their journeys made him 
 
LIFE AT TWIN SPRINGS 341 
 
 love the land he had known her in. They were all the 
 treasures he had with which to comfort his loneliness. 
 
 And when in the twilight he descended to the camp, 
 Joe or his own longings had won. 
 
 "I will send the telegram for you, old fellow," he said, 
 and that was all. 
 
342 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 AGAIN ON THE KOOTENAI. 
 
 Another canoe, with a woman in it, skimmed over 
 the waters in the twilight that evening a woman with 
 all the gladness of youth in her bright eyes, and an eager- 
 ness for the north country that far outstripped the speed 
 of the boat. 
 
 Each dark tree-trunk as it loomed up from the shores, 
 each glint of the after-glow as it lighted the ripples, 
 each whisper of the fresh, soft wind of the mountains, 
 was to her 'as a special welcome. All of them touched 
 her with the sense of a friendship that had been faith- 
 ful. That she was no more to them than any of the 
 strangers who came and went on the current, she could 
 not believe; for they all meant so much, so very much 
 to her. 
 
 She asked for a paddle, that she might once more 
 'feel against her strength the strong rush of the moun- 
 tain river. She caressed its waves and reached out 
 Jier hands to the bending boughs, and laughter and 
 sighs touched her lips. 
 
 "Never again!" she whispered, as if a promise was 
 being made ; "never again ! my wilderness !" 
 
 The man who had charge of the canoe a stalwart, 
 red-whiskered man of perhaps forty-five looked at her 
 a good deal in a cautious way. She was so unlike any 
 of the girls he had ever seen so gay, so free of speech 
 
AGAIN ON THE KOOTENAI 343 
 
 with each stranger or Indian who came their way; so 
 daintily garbed in a very correct creation of some city 
 tailor ; and, above all, so tenderly careful of a child who 
 slept among the rugs at her feet, and looked like a bit 
 of pink blossom against the dark furs. 
 
 "You are a stranger here, aren't you?" she asked the 
 man. "I saw no one like you running a boat here last 
 summer." 
 
 "No, no," he said, slowly; "I didn't then. My camp 
 is east of Bonner's Ferry, quite a ways ; but I get around 
 here sometimes, too. I don't run a boat only for myself ; 
 but when they told me a lady wanted to get to Twin 
 Springs, I didn't allow no scrub Indians to take her 
 if my boat was good enough." 
 
 "It is a lovely boat," she said, admiringly; "the pret- 
 tiest I ever saw on this river, and it is very good of you 
 to bring me yourself. That is one of the things makes 
 me realize I am in the West once more to be helped 
 simply because I am a girl alone. And you didn't even 
 know my name when you offered to bring me." 
 
 "No, but I did before I left shore," he answered ; "and 
 then I counted myself kind of lucky. I I've heard so 
 much about you, miss, from folks up at Twin Springs; 
 from one lady there in particular Mrs. Huzzard." 
 
 "Oh! so you know her, do you?" she asked, and 
 wondered at the self-conscious look with which he 
 owned up that he did a little. 
 
 "A little? Oh, that is not nearly enough," she said, 
 good-naturedly. "Lorena Jane is worth knowing a good 
 deal of." 
 
 "That's my opinion, too," he agreed; "but a fellow 
 needs some help sometimes, if he ain't over handy with 
 the gift of gab." 
 
344 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "Well, now, I should not think you would need much 
 help," she answered. "You ought to be the sort she 
 would make friends with quick enough." 
 
 "Oh, yes friends," he said, and sent the canoe on 
 with swifter, stronger strokes. The other boat, paddled 
 by Indians and carrying baggage, was left far behind. 
 
 "You make this run often?" she asked, with a little 
 wonder as to who the man was. His dress was much 
 above the average, his boat was a beautiful and costly 
 thing, and she had not learned, in the haste of her de- 
 parture, who her boatman was. 
 
 "Not very often. Haven't been up this way for two 
 weeks now." 
 
 "But that is often," she said. "Are you located in this 
 country ?" 
 
 "Well yes, I have been. I struck a silver lode across 
 the hills in yon direction. I've sold out and am only 
 prospecting around just now, not settled anywhere yet. 
 My name is McCoy." 
 
 "McCoy!" and like a flash she remembered the post- 
 script of Mrs. Huzzard's letter. "Oh, yes I've heard 
 of you." 
 
 "You have? Well, that's funny. I didn't know my 
 name had got beyond the ranges." 
 
 "Didn't you? Well, it got across the country to 
 Manhattan Island that's where I was when it reached 
 me," and she smiled quizzically. "You know Mrs. Huz- 
 zard writes me letters sometimes." 
 
 "And do you mean did she " 
 
 "Yes, she did mentioned your name very kindly, too," 
 she said, as he hesitated in a confused way. Then, with 
 all the gladness of home-coming in her heart and her 
 desire that no heart should be left heavy, she added: 
 
AGAIN ON THE KOOTENAI 345 
 
 "And, really, as I told you before, I don't think you need 
 much help." 
 
 The kindly, smiling eyes of the man thanked her, as 
 he drove the canoe through the clear waters. Above 
 them the stars were commencing to gleam faintly, and 
 all the sweet odors of the dusk floated by them, and 
 the sweetest seemed to come to her from the north. 
 
 "We will not stop over let us go on," she said, when 
 he spoke of Sinna Ferry. "I can paddle while you rest 
 at times, or we can float there on the current if we both 
 grow tired; but let us keep going." 
 
 But ere they reached the little settlement, a canoe 
 swept into sight ahead of them and when it came near, 
 Captain Leek very nearly fell over the side of it in his 
 anxiety to make himself known to Miss Rivers. 
 
 "Strangest thing in the world!" he declared. "Here 
 I am, sent down to telegraph you and wait a week if 
 need be until an answer comes; and half-way on my 
 journey I meet you just as if the message had reached 
 you in some way before it was even put on paper. Ex- 
 traordinary thing very !" 
 
 "You were going to telegraph me? What for?" and 
 the lightness of her heart was chased away by fear. "Is 
 is any one hurt?" 
 
 "Hurt? Not a bit of it. But Harris thinks he is 
 worse and wanted you, until Dan concluded to ask you 
 to come. I have the message here somewhere," and he 
 drew out a pocket-book. 
 
 "Dan asked me to come? Let me see it, please," and 
 she unfolded the paper and read the words he had writ- 
 ten the only time she had ever seen his writing in a 
 message to her. 
 
346 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 A lighted match threw a flickering light over the 
 page, on which he said: 
 
 "Joe is worse. He wants you. Will you come back? 
 
 "DAN OVERTON." 
 
 She folded it up and held it tight in her hand under 
 the cloak she wore. He had sent for her! Ah! how 
 long the night would be, for not until dawn could she 
 answer his message. 
 
 "We will go on/' she said. "Can't you spare us a 
 boatman? Mr. McCoy has outstripped our Indian ex- 
 tras who have our outfit, and he needs a little rest, 
 though he won't own up." 
 
 "Why, of course! Our errand is over, too, so we'll 
 turn back with you. I just passed Akkomi a few miles 
 back. He is coming North with the season, as 
 usual. I thought the old fellow would freeze out with 
 the winter; but there he was drifting North to a camp- 
 ing-place he wanted to reach before stopping. I suppose 
 we'll have him for a neighbor all summer again." 
 
 The girl, remembering his antipathy to all of the 
 red race, laughed and raised in her arms the child, that 
 had awakened. 
 
 "All I needed to perfect my return to the Kootenai 
 country was the presence of Akkomi," she confessed. 
 "I should have missed him, for he was my first friend 
 in the valley. And it may be, Mr. McCoy, that if he 
 is inclined to be friendly to-night, I may ask him to take 
 me the rest of the way. I want to talk to him. He is 
 an old friend." 
 
 "Certainly," agreed McCoy; but he evidently thought 
 her desire was a very peculiar one. 
 
 "But you will have a friend at court just the same 
 
AGAIN ON THE KOOTENAI 347 
 
 whether I go all the way with you or not," she said and 
 smiled across at him knowingly. 
 
 Captain Leek heard the words, too, and must have 
 understood them, for he stared stonily at the big, good- 
 looking miner. Their greeting had been very brief; 
 evidently they were not congenial spirits. 
 
 "Is that a a child?" asked the captain, as the little 
 creature drooped drowsily with its face against Tana's 
 neck; "really a child?" 
 
 "Really a child," returned the girl, "and the sweetest, 
 prettiest little thing in the world when her eyes are 
 open." As he continued to stare at her in astonishment 
 while their boats kept opposite each other, she added: 
 "You would have sooner expected to see me with a pet 
 bear, or wolf, wouldn't you?" 
 
 "Yes; I think I would," he confessed, and she drew 
 the child closer and kissed it and laughed happily. 
 
 "That is because you only know one side of me," 
 she said. 
 
 The stars were thick overhead, and their clear light 
 made the night beautiful. When they reached the boats 
 of Akkomi, only a short parley was held, and then an 
 Indian canoe darted out ahead of the others. Two dark 
 experts bent to the paddles and old Akkomi sat near 
 the girl and the child. Looking in their dusky faces, 
 'Tana realized more fully that she was again in the 
 land of the Kootenais. 
 
 It was just as she would have chosen to come back, 
 and close against her heart was pressed the message bj 
 which he had called her. 
 
 The child slept, but she and the old Indian talked 
 now and then in low tones all through the night. She 
 felt no weariness. The air she breathed was as a tonic 
 
348 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 against fatigue, and when the canoe veered to the left 
 and entered the creek leading to camp, she knew her 
 journey was almost over. 
 
 The dusk was yet over the land, a faint whiteness 
 touched the eastern edge of the night and told of the 
 dawn to come, but it had not arrived. 
 
 The camp was wrapped in silence. Only the watch- 
 man of the ore-sheds was awake, and came tramping 
 down to the shore when their paddles dipped in the 
 water and told him a boat was near. It was the man 
 Saunders. 
 
 "Miss Rivers!" he exclaimed, incredulously. "Well, 
 if this isn't luck! Harris will about drop dead with joy 
 when he sees you. He took worse just after dark last 
 night. He says he is worse, though he can talk yet. I 
 was with him a little while, and how he did worry be- 
 cause you wouldn't get here before he was done for'! 
 Overton has been with him all night; went to bed only 
 an hour ago. I'll call the folks up for you." 
 
 "No," said the girl, hastily; "call no one yet. I will 
 go to Joe if you will take me. If he is so bad, that will 
 be best. Let the rest sleep." 
 
 "Can I carry the the baby?" he asked, doubtfully, 
 and took the child in his arms with a sort of fear lest it 
 should break. He was not the sort of man to be need- 
 lessly curious, so he showed no surprise at the rather 
 strange adjunct to her outfit, but carried the little sleeper 
 into the pretty sitting room, where he deposited it on 
 a couch, and the girl arranged it comfortably, that it 
 might at last have undisturbed rest. 
 
 A man in an adjoining room heard their voices and 
 *o the door. 
 
AGAIN ON THE KOOTENAI 349 
 
 "You can come out for a while, Kelly," said Saunders. 
 "This is Miss Rivers. She will want to see him." 
 
 A minute later the man in charge had left 'Tana alone 
 beside Harris. 
 
 All the life in him seemed to gather in his eyes as he 
 looked at her. 
 
 "You have come ! I told him you would I told 
 Dan," he whispered, excitedly. "Come close; turn up 
 the light; I want to see you plain. Just the same girl; 
 but happier a heap happier, ain't you?" 
 
 "A heap happier," she agreed. 
 
 "And I helped you about it some about the mine, 
 I mean. I like to think of that, to think I made some 
 return for the harm I done you." 
 
 "But you never did me any harm, Joe." 
 
 "Yes, I did lots. You didn't know but I did. 
 That's why I wanted you to come so bad. I wanted to 
 square things before I had to go." 
 
 "But you are all right, Joe. You are not going to 
 die. You are much better than when I saw you last." 
 
 "Because I can talk, you think so," he answered. 
 "But I am cold to my waist I know what that means; 
 and I ain't grumbling. It's all right, now that you have 
 come. Queer that all the time we've known each other, 
 this is the first time I've talked to you ! 'Tana, you must 
 let me tell Dan Overton all " 
 
 "All! All what?" 
 
 "Where I saw you first, and " 
 
 "No no, I can't do that," she said, shrinking back. 
 "Joe, I've tried often to think of it of telling him, but 
 I never could. He will have to trust or distrust me, 
 but I can't tell him." 
 
 "I know how you feel ; but you wrong yourself. Any 
 
 23 
 
350 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 one would give you credit instead of blaming you 
 don't you ever think of that? And then then, 'Tana, 
 I tried to tell him down at the Ferry, because I thought 
 you were in some game against him. I managed to tell 
 him you were Holly's partner, but hadn't got any farther 
 when the paralysis caught me. I hadn't time to tell him 
 that Holly was your father, and that he made you go 
 where he said; or that you dressed as a boy and was 
 called 'Monte,' because that disguise was the only safety 
 possible for you in the gambling dens where he took 
 you. Part of it I didn't understand clearly at that time. 
 I didn't know you really thought he was dead, and that 
 you tramped alone into this region in your boy's clothes, 
 so you could get a new start where no white folks knew 
 you. I told him just enough to wrong you in his eyes, 
 and then could not tell him enough to right you again. 
 Now do you know why I want you to let me tell him all 
 while I can?" 
 
 It had taken him a long time to say the words; his 
 articulation had grown indistinct at times, and the ex- 
 citement was wearing on him. 
 
 Once the door into the room where the child lay swung 
 open noiselessly, and he had turned his eyes in that 
 direction ; but the girl's head was bowed on the arm of 
 his chair, and she did not notice it. 
 
 "And then there are other things," he continued. 
 "He don't know you were the boy Fannie spoke of in 
 that letter; or that she gave you the plot of this land; 
 or, more far more to me! that you took care of her 
 till she died. All that must give him many a worried 
 thought, 'Tana, that you never counted on, for he liked 
 you and yet all along he has been made to think wrong 
 of you." 
 
AGAIN ON THE KOOTENAI 351 
 
 "I know," she assented. "He blamed me for for a 
 man being in my cabin that night, and I I wanted him 
 to think well of me; but I could not tell him the truth, 
 I was ashamed of it all my life. And the shame has got 
 in my blood till I can't change it. I want him to know, 
 but I can't tell him." 
 
 "You don't need to," said a voice back of her, and she 
 arose to see Overton standing in the door. "I did not 
 mean to listen ; but I stopped to look at the child, and 
 I heard. I hope you are not sorry," and he came over to 
 her with outstretched hand. 
 
 She could not speak at first. She had dreamed of so- 
 many ways in which she would meet him of what she 
 would say to him; and now she stood before him with- 
 out a word. 
 
 "Don't be sorry, Tana," he said, and tightened his 
 hand over her own. "I honor you for what I heard just 
 now. You were wrong not to tell me; I might have 
 saved you some troubles." 
 
 "I was ashamed ashamed!" she said, and turned 
 away. 
 
 "But it is not to me all this should be told," he said, 
 more coldly. "Max is the one to know; or, maybe, he 
 does know." 
 
 "He knows a little not much. Seldon and Haydon 
 recognized Holly. So the family knew that, but no 
 more." 
 
 It was so hard for her to talk to him there, where 
 Harris looked from one to the other expectantly. 
 
 And then the child slipped from the couch and came 
 toddling into the light and to the girl. 
 
 ' 'Tana bek-fas !" she lisped, imperatively. "Bek- 
 fas." 
 
352 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "Yes, you shall have your breakfast very soon/' 
 promised the girl. "But come and shake hands with 
 these gentlemen." 
 
 She surveyed them each with baby scrutiny, and re- 
 fused. "Bek-fas" was all the world contained that she 
 would give attention to just then. 
 
 "You with a baby, Tana?" said Harris. "Have you 
 adopted one?" 
 
 "Not quite," and she wished how she wished it was 
 all over! "Her mother, who is dead, gave her to me. 
 But she has a father. I have come up here to see what 
 he will say." 
 
 "Up here!" 
 
 "Yes. But I must go and find some one to get her 
 breakfast. Then Dan I would like to see you." 
 
 He bowed and started to follow her, but Harris called 
 him back. 
 
 "This spurt of strength has about done for me," he 
 said. "The cold is creeping up fast. I want to tell you 
 something else. Don't tell her till I am gone, for she 
 wouldn't touch my hand if she knew it. I killed Lee 
 Holly!" 
 
 "You didn't you couldn't!" 
 
 "I did. I was able to walk long before you knew it, 
 but I lay low. I knew if he was living, he would come 
 where she was, sooner or later, and I knew the gold 
 would fetch him, so I waited. I could hardly keep from 
 killing him as he left her cabin that first night, but she 
 had told him to come back, and I knew that would be 
 my time. She thought once it might be me, but changed 
 her mind. Don't tell her till I am gone, Dan. And 
 listen! You are everything to her, and you don't know 
 it. I knew it before she left, but Oh, well, it's all 
 
AGAIN ON THE KOOTENAI 353 
 
 square now, I guess. She won't blame me after I'm 
 dead. She knows he deserved it. She knew I meant 
 to kill him, if ever I was able." 
 
 "But why?" 
 
 "Don't you know? He was the man my partner 
 who took Fannie away. Don't you understand?" 
 
 "Yes," and Overton, after a moment, shook hands 
 with him. 
 
 "I didn't want 'Tana to go back on me while I lived," 
 he whispered. It was his one reason for keeping silence 
 the dread that she could never talk to him freely, nor 
 ever clasp his hand again; and Overton promised his 
 wish should be regarded. 
 
 When he went to find 'Tana, Mrs. Huzzard had pos- 
 session of her, and the two women were seeing that the 
 baby got her "bek-fas," and doing some talking at the 
 same time. 
 
 "And he's got his new boat, has he?" she was saying. 
 "Well, now! And it's to be a new house next, and a 
 fine one, he says, if he can only get the right woman to 
 live in it," and she smoothed her hair complacently. 
 "He thinks a heap of fine manners in a woman, too; 
 and right enough, for he'll have an elegant home to put 
 one in and she never to wet her hands in dish-water! 
 But he is so backward like; but maybe this time " 
 
 "Oh, you must cure him of that," laughed the girl. 
 "He is a splendid fellow, and I won't forgive you if you 
 don't marry him before the summer is over." 
 
 At that instant Overton opened the door. 
 
 "If you are ready now to see me " he began, and 
 she nodded her head and went toward him, her face a 
 little pale and visibly embarrassed. 
 
 Then she turned and went back. 
 
354 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 "Come, Toddles," she said; "you come with 'Tana." 
 
 A faint flush was tingeing the east, and over the water- 
 courses a silvery mist was spread. She looked out from 
 the window and then up the mountain. 
 
 "Let us go out up on the bluff," she suggested. "I 
 have been shut up in houses so long ! I want to feel that 
 the trees are close to me again." 
 
 He assented in silence and the child, having appeased 
 its hunger, was disposed to be more gracious, and the 
 little hands were reached to him while she said: 
 
 "Up." 
 
 He lifted her to his shoulder, where she laughed down 
 in high glee at the girl who walked beside in silence. 
 It was so much easier to plan, while far away from him, 
 what she would say, than to say it. 
 
 But he himself broke the silence. 
 
 "You call her Toddles," he remarked. "It is not a 
 pretty name for so pretty a child. Has she no other 
 one?" 
 
 They had reached the bluff above the camp that was 
 almost a town now. She sat down on a log and wished 
 she could keep from trembling so. 
 
 "Yes she has another one a pretty one, I think," 
 she said, at last. "It is Gracie Grace " 
 
 She looked up at him appealingly. 
 
 But the emotion in her face made his lips tighten. 
 He had heard so many revelations of her that morning. 
 What was this last to be ? 
 
 "Well," he said, coldly, "that is a pretty name, so far 
 as it goes ; but what is the rest of it ?" 
 
 "Overton," she said, in a low voice, and his face flushed 
 scarlet. 
 
AGAIN ON THE KOOTENAI 355 
 
 "What do you mean ?" he asked, harshly, and the little 
 one, disliking his tone, reached her arms to 'Tana. 
 "Whose child is this?" 
 
 "Your child." 
 
 "It is not true." 
 
 "It is true," she answered, as decidedly as himself. 
 "Her mother the woman you married told me so when 
 she was dying." 
 
 He stared at her incredulously. 
 
 "I wouldn't believe her even then," he answered. "But 
 how does it come that you " 
 
 "You don't need to claim her, if you don't want to," 
 she said, ignoring all his astonishment. "Her mother 
 gave her to me. She is mine, unless you claim her. I 
 don't care who her father was or her mother, either. 
 She is a helpless, innocent little child, thrown on the 
 world that is all the certificate of parentage I am 
 asking for. She shall have what I never had a child- 
 hood." 
 
 He walked back and forth several times, turning some- 
 times to look at the girl, whom the child was patting 
 on the cheek while she put up her little red mouth every 
 now and then for kisses. 
 
 "Her mother is dead?" he asked at last, halting and 
 looking down at her. 
 
 She thought his face was very hard and stern, and did 
 not know it was because he, too, longed to take her in 
 his arms and ask for kisses. 
 
 "Her mother is dead." 
 
 "Then I will take the child, if you will let me." 
 
 "I don't know," she said, and tried to smile up at 
 him. "You don't seem very eager." 
 
356 THAT GIRL MONTANA 
 
 ''And you came back here for that?" he said, slowly, 
 regarding her. ' 'Tana, what of Max ? What of your 
 school?" 
 
 "Well, I guess I have money enough to have private 
 teachers out here for the things I don't know and there 
 are several of them ! And as for Max he didn't say 
 much. I saw Mr. Seldon in Chicago and he scolded me 
 when I told him I was coming back to the woods to 
 stay" 
 
 'To stay ?" and he took a step nearer to her. " Tana !" 
 
 "Don't you want me to?" she asked. "I thought 
 maybe after what you said to me in the cabin that 
 day" 
 
 "You'd better be careful!" he said. "Don't make me 
 remember that unless unless you are willing to tell 
 me what I told you that day unless you are willing to 
 say that you care for me that you will be my wife. 
 God knows I never hoped to say this to you. I have 
 fought myself into the idea that you belong to Max. 
 But now that it is said answer me !" 
 
 She smiled up at him and kissed the child happily. 
 
 "What shall I say?" she asked. "You should know 
 without words. I told you once I would make coffee 
 for no man but you. Do you remember ? Well, I have 
 come back to you for that. And see! I don't wear 
 Max's ring any longer. Don't you understand?" 
 
 "That you have come back to me Tana !" 
 
 "Now don't eat me ! I may not always be a blessing, 
 so don't be too jubilant. I have bad blood in my veins, 
 but you have had fair warning." 
 
 He only laughed and drew her to him, and she could 
 never again say no man had kissed her. 
 
 "Tana!" said the child, " 'ook." 
 
AGAIN ON THE KOOTENAI 357 
 
 She looked where the little hand pointed and saw 
 all the clouds of the east flooded with gold, and higher 
 up they lay blushing above the far hills. 
 
 A new day was creeping over the mountains to banish 
 shadows from the Kootenai land. 
 
 THE END.