me round.
Then it was found that the Indians had departed.
"They didn't dar' stay hayer longer," said Old Rocks. "Ther whelps wuz
afeared o' ther soldiers. I'd like ter run onter ther soldiers an' set
'em arter Half Hand an' ther gang."
Led by the guide, they left the spot. Frank carried Fay in his arms.
Old Rocks first proceeded to the spot where he had hidden his rifle,
and, with that again in his possession, he expressed himself as feeling
ready to "chaw up ther hull Blackfeet tribe."
They found some game for breakfast and dinner, and before nightfall they
reached the camp on the shore of the lake, where Preston March and
Foster Fairfax had met.
A large party of tourists had gathered there, and the appearance of the
man and boy, the latter bearing Fay in his arms, created the greatest
excitement. Several persons rushed into the tent and drew forth a man
and woman, the latter white and grief-stricken, and pointed out the
child, who was sitting on Frank's shoulder and waving her hand, as she
laughingly called:
"I dess my mamma is dere! I knowed you'd tate me bat to my mamma!"
The man and woman were Foster Fairfax and his wife, who had met by
accident there in the Wonderland of America. She had told him how little
Fay had wandered away and become lost, and both had feared that they
would never see their child again.
Their unutterable joy cannot be depicted in words. Frank and Old Rocks
were the heroes of the occasion.
"Yer don't want ter give me too much credit fer this yar," said the
guide. "I done ther trailin', but this yar tenderfut saved me frum bein'
killed twice, an' he's got nerves o' steel. It ain't often I take ter a
tenderfut, but I will allow thet this yar chap is a boy ter tie to. Ther
babby sticks by him; he has won her heart. Dog my cats ef I blame her
either!"
Then the old man told how Frank had saved him from the grizzly, how the
boy had been tireless on the trail, how he had not murmured at any
hardship, and how he had broken the arm of the Blackfoot Indian who was
about to brain the guide.
As a result, Frank found himself regarded with unspeakable admiration by
all the tourists, while Foster Fairfax and his wife could not say or do
enough to express their feelings.
Frank told them of the death of Preston March, and, later, when
Professor Scotch and Barney had been found by Rocks and brought into the
party, all visited the spot where the Hermit of Yellowstone Park lay
buri
|