While Wallie wondered, it did not seem a propitious moment to ask
questions, and he would have turned away had Mr. Stott not said
peremptorily:

"Wait a minute. I want to speak to you."

Having laid Mrs. Stott, who was shuddering, on her blankets and
administered a few drops of aromatic spirits of ammonia, he dropped the
flap of her teepee and beckoned Wallie curtly:

"You come with me."

Wallie could not do else than follow him, his wonder growing as he led
the way to the camp kitchen where Mr. Hicks was engaged at the moment
in the task which he referred to as "pearl-diving."

He did not appear surprised to see them in his domain, on the contrary
he seemed rather to be expecting them, for immediately he took his hands
out of the dish-water, wiped them on the corner of his apron, and
reaching for a convenient stick of stove-wood laid it on the corner of
the table with a certain significance in the action.

"Make yourself to home, gents," he said, hospitably, indicating the
wagon-tongue and a cracker-box for seats, respectively. "Anything in
particular I can do for you?" He looked at Mr. Stott guilelessly.

"You can answer me a few questions." Mr. Stott fixed a sternly accusing
eye upon him. "Hicks, was, or was not, that trout you gave my wife,
wormy?"

Mr. Hicks, who seemed to relish the situation, pursed his lips and
considered. Finally he asked in a tone which showed that he had pride in
his legal knowledge:

"Will I or will I not incriminate myself by answering?"

"You probably will if I'm correct in my suspicions. I want the truth."

"Then," replied Mr. Hicks, while his hand slipped carelessly to the
stick of stove-wood, "if you force the issue, I will say that I've seen
a good many wormy trout come out of the Yellowstone but that was the
worst I ever met up with."

Mr. Stott advanced belligerently.

"And you dare boast of it!"

"I'm not boasting--I'm just telling you," replied Mr. Hicks, calmly. "An
Eye for an Eye, a Tooth for a Tooth, that's my motto, and your wife
thought I wasn't good enough to eat at the table with her."

"You hear?" Stott turned to Wallie furiously. "He did it on purpose. I
demand that you discharge this fellow!"

Mr. Hicks' fingers caressed the stove-wood while he waited Wallie's
answer.

Wallie squirmed between the two of them.

"It was reprehensible, Mr. Stott, I am more distressed than I can tell
you. I have no excuse to offer for Hicks' action, but the truth is, as