you didn't need to tell me, Keeko. There wasn't any
need. Still, it shows the trust you feel. And it makes me glad. Now I'll
tell you the notion I've fixed. You're going to get a whole heap more
than that three-thousand-dollar trade. You surely are. And when you go
back you'll be free of--of him, just as far as dollars can make you. But
I'm hoping you'll go back feeling better than that. Maybe you'll be able
to feel that when your poor sick mother is gone you aren't just alone in
the world with Little One Man and Snake Foot and Charlie. There's
another feller just waiting around to hand you all the help you need any
old time. And this old tree-trunk you're sitting on will find me all the
time. We'll make a cache in it. And each end of the open season I'll get
around and open the cache. Come here yourself, or send word by Little
One Man, and, just as hard as I can lay paddle to the waters of this old
river, I'll beat it to your help for all that's in me. Maybe I'm only a
kid chasing pelts, but I'd be mighty thankful to Providence for the
chance of making good helping you." He laughed with the full sun of his
optimism shining again as he flung out a hand. "Say, shake on it, Keeko!
We're partners in an enterprise to beat a devil man. Do you know what
that means? You've likely got your notions. I've got the notion that
was handed me by the best man in the world and a dark-faced angel woman.
It means you can just claim me to the last breath. That's so. It surely
is."

Keeko took the hand that was thrust out at her. And in a moment her own
was crushed gently between the youth's warm, strong palms. And the
pressure of them thrilled the girl as nothing else had ever thrilled her
in her life.

Her only answer was to gaze up at him with wide, thankful eyes. She had
no words. She felt that any attempt to speak must choke her. So she sat
there on the ages-old trunk, with a wild feeling of unaccountable
emotion in utter and complete possession of her soul.

Marcel abruptly seated himself beside her on the tree-trunk.

"Say, Keeko," he cried, his seriousness gone, "guess this has been all
sorts of a talk, and I've blown a horn that would have worried the angel
Gabriel. Well, I've just got to make good--that's all. That being so,
there isn't a day to waste. I'll have to hit back to my outfit and
collect my 'truck,' which I need to tote along over here. It'll take me
all a piece of time, but not an hour longer than my craze to star