nd up before
him and give an account of himself.

Ruth was crying when she heard a swish of a whip through the air and
thought she caught the sound of a sob from Frieda. She listened again.
Jim was speaking in a voice she did not know he could use, and for a
minute she turned quite cold.

"You deserter," the voice said harshly. "I forgave you for running away
from camp this morning, when I told you to stay behind, and then when I
leave you for an instant you turn traitor the second time. There is no
blood of an Indian Chief in your veins; they at least keep faith with
their friends." Swish! Ruth knew the whip had struck again.

She slipped quietly on the scene. Olive and Frieda were both crying, and
Jean was biting her trembling lips. Jim's face was crimson and his blue
eyes blazed as only a man's can who is slow to anger. Only Carlos stood
as still as stone. He had but one thin shirt over his slender body, but
when he staggered it was from fatigue not pain. He bore his punishment
with the silence and fortitude of an Indian warrior.

Jim had lifted his stick for the third time and this blow he meant to
make the severest of all. A small, white hand closed over the raised
whip. "Stop, Mr. Jim," Ruth said quietly. "Carlos is a child and
whatever he has done he is too tired for you to punish him now. I think
he did not mean to desert Jack any more than you did." Ruth did not
intend her words as a reproach, but Jim's arm dropped quickly to his
side and he turned so pale that she was frightened. "Take Carlos away
and see that he has something to eat," he ordered Olive, "and, Jean,
make Frieda stop crying." Without glancing at Ruth, Jim picked up a
flask of beef tea, which he had had prepared for Jack's return, and
without another word set out to search for Jack.

A little later Ralph Merrit proposed that he too should go out to
reconnoiter. Having also met with misfortune at "Miner's Folly," he knew
the country all about the neighborhood. The young man was saying good-by
to Ruth and Frieda, when Jean's face, paler and more wistful than usual,
appeared over her chaperon's shoulder.

"Ruth, dear, Olive and I want to go with Mr. Merrit to look for Jack,"
she begged. "Yes, I know it is awfully selfish of us to leave you, but
we are perfectly worn out with waiting. Besides, Jack don't know Mr.
Merrit and he will never be able to persuade her to return with him."

Ralph laughed. "Frieda, won't you give me the blue ribbon on