dians fell back and forth strode Father Holland, his
face shining wet and abeam with pleasure. The Indians had been welcoming
"their good white father." As he dismissed his Mandane children we drew
him in and placed his soaked over-garments before the fire. Then we
proffered him all the delicacies of bachelors' quarters, and filled and
refilled his bowl with soup, and did not stop pouring out our lye-black
tea till he had drained the dregs of it.

Having satisfied his inner-man, we gave him the best stump-tree seat in
the cabin and sat back to listen. There was the awkward pause of
reunion, when friends have not had time to gather up the loose threads
of a parted past and weave them anew into stronger bands of comradeship.
Hamilton and the priest were strangers; but if the latter were as
overcome by the meeting after half a year's isolation as I was, the
silence was not surprising. To me it seemed the genial face was
unusually grave, and I noticed a long, horizontal scar across his
forehead.

"What's that, Father?" I asked, indicating the mark on his brow.

"Tush, youngster! Nothing! Nothing at all! Sampled scalping-knife on me;
thought better of it, kept me out of the martyr's crown."

"And left you your own!" cried Hamilton astonished at the priest's
careless stoicism.

"Left me my own," responded Father Holland.

"Do you mean to say the murderous----" I began.

"Tush, youngster! Be quiet!" said he. "Haven't many brethren come from
the same tribe more like warped branches than men? What am I, that I
should escape? Never speak of it again," and he continued his silent
study of the flames' play.

"Where are your Indians?" he asked abruptly.

"In the lodges. Shall I whistle for them?"

He did not answer, but leaned forward with elbows on his knees, rubbing
his chin vigorously first with one hand, then the other, still studying
the fire.

"How strong are the Mandanes?" he asked.

"Weak, weak," I answered. "Few hundred. It hasn't been worth while for
traders to come here for years."

"Was it worth while this year?"

"Not for trade."

"For anything else?" and he looked at Eric's dejected face.

"Nothing else," I put in hastily, fearing one of Hamilton's outbreaks.
"We've been completely off the track, might better have stayed in the
north----"

"No, you mightn't, not by any means," was his sharp retort. "I've been
in the Sioux lodges for three weeks."

With an inarticulate cry, Hamilton sprang to his