him to keep awake
while you bring white man officer. See?"

"Sure. An-ina know. An-ina mak him fix all so."

CHAPTER VIII

BIG CHIEF WANAK-AHA

The enclosure of the fort was at last cleared of snow. It was now ready,
waiting for the elements to render abortive in a few short hours the
labour of many days. Julyman and Steve had spent the brief daylight in
setting up a snow-break before the open sheds which housed the sleds and
canoes. Oolak was at the quarters of the train dogs at the back of the
store. These were his charge. He drove them, he fed them, and cared for
them. And his art lay in his nimble manipulation of the club, at once
the key to discipline, and his only means of opening up a way to their
savage intelligence. Steve shared in every labour and none knew better
than he the value of work and discipline under the conditions of their
long imprisonment upon the bitter plateau.

Daylight had merged into twilight, and the cold blaze of the Northern
night had again enthroned itself. It was on the abandonment of his own
labours that Steve's attention was at once drawn to others going on
beyond the wall of the stockade. And forthwith he passed out of the
gates to investigate.

That which he discovered brought a smile to his eyes. From the summit of
a drift, which stood the height of the timbered walls, he found himself
gazing down upon the quaintly associated figures of little Marcel and
his nurse. They were busy, particularly the boy. Amidst a confusion of
coiled, rawhide ropes An-ina, hammer in hand, was securing a rope end
to the angle of the wall, while Marcel, with tireless vocal energy, was
encouraging and instructing her to his own complete satisfaction.

The sturdy, busy little figure, so overburdened with its bulk of furs,
was always a sight that delighted Steve. The childish enthusiasm was so
inspiriting, so heedless, so lost to everything but the sheer delight of
existence.

While he stood there the rope was made secure and the squaw's efforts
ceased. Instantly the scene changed. The high spirits of the boy sought
to forestall the next move. With unthinking abandon he flung himself
upon the pile of ropes, and manfully struggled to gather them into his
baby arms. The result was inevitable. In a moment hopeless confusion
reigned and An-ina was to the rescue disentangling him. It was in the
midst of this that Marcel became aware of Steve's presence. The moment
he was successfully freed he