ever set foot in bush or prairie? What do you take me
for, I'd just like to know?"

"One of the kindest hearts in the world, Mr. Mackintosh," said Bob
fervently.

"Bah! Fiddlesticks and porridge-sticks!" was the rough rejoinder, though
a pair of eyes were turned kindly enough upon the youths--eyes that
glistened in a way that rather suggested the nearness of water. "All a
pack o' nonsense! If a man is no' ready to help his fellow-creatures
when they need him--well, I'm thinking that he ought to have a pin stuck
through his thorax and mounted in a box among my moths, labelled, 'A
horrible freak o' Nature.' And I'd have you know, too, that my name is
Mackintosh--Skipper Mackintosh. There's no 'Misters' in the backwoods.
'Skipper' is the name that my auld faither gave me to commemorate his
discovery o' a new variety of skippers in the entomological world. Mind
that, and--and good-night to you, laddies. Good-night, and God bless the
pair o' you."

CHAPTER VIII

NIGHT IN THE WIGWAM

While the two boys had been holding their lonely watch at the camp prior
to setting forth the following morning on their disappointing search,
matters of serious moment were taking place at the encampment of Mighty
Hand and his brother Dacotahs.

Thunder-maker's triumph had been complete. The savage mind seldom looks
for a simple explanation of anything that surprises him. When the
unusual is not understood, he does not search for a simple and natural
explanation. He immediately flies to the supernatural and attributes to
good and evil spirits actions that a little common sense would have
readily explained in an everyday way.

The Medicine Man of a tribe is different from others of his race. He is
the brainy exception of craft united to common sense, and he uses these
to best advantage for his own interests. Thunder-maker's method of
divining was very simple after all--nay, even childish. We have seen it
performed by redskin jugglers, as we have also seen the same effects
produced by Arab diviners on the Syrian desert.

The explanation is found in the fact that serpents are exceedingly
sensitive to blows. A cut with an ordinary willow wand is usually
sufficient to break the spine and disable all but the monsters of the
class. At the same time, although the first blow may daze a snake, it is
some time before the final effect takes place, and the creature will
wriggle about for some time after having been struck, while its energy