inside the tent; but Cowboy Jack had a hand-torch in
his pocket, and he took this out and flashed the light all about the
interior of the tent by pressing his thumb on the switch of the torch.

"Never know what you'll find in these Injun shanties," muttered Cowboy
Jack. "Black Bear is college bred, but he's Injun just the same----"

"Goodness me! what does he say?" gasped Rose.

"Why, this Black Bear is a man!" exclaimed Russ. "He's an Indian. And I
guess he must be a chief of the tribe. Is he, Daddy?"

"You've guessed it," laughed Daddy.

"Was he one of those awful painted Indians we saw riding down on the
cabin?" queried Rose. "Are they safe?"

Daddy laughed and assured her that "out of business hours" the painted
Indians were quite as gentle as the women and children about the camp.
But Rose and Russ could not just understand what the Indians' "business"
could be. It was a very great mystery, and no mistake!

Vi and Laddie were so curious that they wished to examine everything in
the wikiup. And there were many, many things strange to the children's
eyes. Brilliant colored blankets hung from the walls, feather
headdresses with what Vi called "trails," so that when a man wore one
the tail of it dragged to his heels. There were beaded shirts and pretty
moccasins and long-stemmed pipes decorated with beads and feathers in
bunches. There were, too, little skins and big skins hanging from the
framework of the Indian tent, and most of the floor was soft with cured
wolf hides, the hair side uppermost.

"Black Bear is 'heap big chief,'" chuckled Cowboy Jack. "When he travels
he takes a lot of stuff with him. Hello! Here they come, I reckon."

The four small Bunkers heard the pounding of the ponies' hoofs on the
plain. They peered out of the "door" of the wikiup as daddy held back
the blanket that served as a curtain over the entrance.

"Oh, they _are_ the painted Indians!" wailed Vi, and immediately hid her
face against Rose's dress.

"They won't hurt you," scoffed Laddie. "You know they won't with daddy
and Mr. Cowboy Jack here."

"But--but what did they do to that woman at the cabin--and her baby?"
wondered Vi with continued anxiety.

"I don't see any scalps," said Laddie confidently. "Maybe it isn't the
fashion to scalp folks any more out here."

"You can ask Black Bear about that," chuckled Cowboy Jack. "I'm not up
in the fashions, as you might say."

The big ranchman was evidently vastly amused by the l