ck; but, though
they talked a good deal about him, and displayed as much curiosity as
their brothers, they did not molest him. Once, when they ventured rather
too close, Jack whipped out his knife, raised it on high, and made a
leap at them, expanding his eyes to their widest extent, and shouting in
his most terrifying tone, "Boo!"

It produced the effect desired. The young frights scattered with screams
of terror, and hardly ventured to peep out of their homes at the ogre
striding by.

When Jack entered the lodge he found Ogallah awake. Evidently he was not
in good humor, for his manner showed he was scolding his much better
half, who accepted it all without reply or notice. No doubt she received
it as part of the inevitable.

The chief, however, refrained from following the civilized custom of
beating the wife, and when the meat and a species of boiled greens were
laid on the block of wood which answered for a table, his ill-mood
seemed to have passed, and he ate with his usual relish and enjoyment.

Jack Carleton crossed his legs like a tailor at his side of the board,
but before he could eat a mouthful a violent nausea seized him, his head
swam, and he was on the verge of fainting. Ogallah and his squaw noticed
his white face and looked wonderingly at him.

"I'm very ill!" gasped Jack, springing to his feet, staggering a few
steps, and then lunging forward on the bison skin, where he flung
himself down like one without hope.

The violence of the attack quickly subsided, but there remained a
faintness which drove away every particle of appetite, and it was well
that such was the case, for had he taken any food in his condition the
result must have been serious.

Meanwhile the squaw had assumed her place at the table by her liege
lord, and both were champing their meal as though time was limited, and
there was no call to feel any interest in the poor boy who lay on his
rude couch, well assured that his last illness was upon him.

"What do they care for _me_?" muttered Jack, his fright yielding to a
feeling of resentment, as the violence of the attack subsided. "I wonder
that they spared my life so long. They would have been more merciful had
they slain me in the woods as they did Otto, instead of bringing me here
to be tormented to death, and as I know they mean to do with me."

Lying on his arm, he glared at the couple with a revengeful feeling that
was extraordinary under the circumstances. A morbid convic