yor could have such eccentric boors on the place. He noticed, too,
with irritation and astonishment, that none of the men raised their
hats until Alice and Margaret arrived on the scene; then not a man
among them remained covered.

What he did not notice, however, was the way the men around him were,
to use the Clown's expression, "sizin' him up," as they did all city
men and this before he had been ten minutes among them, with the
result that the trapper had concluded that he looked like a man who
was afraid of spoiling his clothes; that Holcomb and the Clown thought
him sadly lacking in Sam Thayor's frank simplicity; while the others
stood about waiting for some word or gesture on which to hang their
opinions.

But all this was changed now. With his ready skill Sperry had become,
by the turn of his hand, so to speak, the Medicine Man of the tribe.
They were even ready to let down their social barriers and extend to
him all their friendship--a friendship he could have relied on for the
rest of his days.

"Dunno as I ever see a neater job," remarked a big fellow--a former
doubter--peering over the shoulders of the crowd, intent on the
doctor's handling of the wounded arm.

"Yes--yes--" drawled the Clown. "Goll! seems 'ough he knowed jest whar
to take hold."

"There," said Sperry, as he gave a final adjustment to the improvised
bandage. "You had better get him to bed."

"By gar, Doc'," grunted the little man between his teeth, "what you
goin' to do now, hein! I feel lot bettaire I tink eff I tak a drink."
He had not even asked for a drop of water before, nor had he spoken a
word.

"He may have it," said Sperry, in the voice he used at consultations.

The Clown poured a tin cup full of whiskey and the little man drained
it to the last drop.

"He'll suffer," said Sperry, turning to the trapper, "when the arm
begins to swell under the bandage."

"Broke bad, Doc'?" asked the trapper.

"Yes, a compound fracture; but he'll be all right, my man, in a few
weeks." Sperry opened a thin leather case, which he took from his bag,
extracted a phial, and shook two whitish gray pills into the trapper's
palm. "Give him one in an hour, and another to-night if he can't
sleep," he said. He went over to the patient, felt his pulse, then
with a nod to the rest, he started toward the door.

"Hold on, Doc'!" came from half a dozen in the group of lumber jacks;
"won't ye take a leetle somethin' 'fore ye go?"

Sperry shook his h