Sick with horror, the girl hurried on. A few hundred
yards more, and she would be clear of that awesome Bedlam.
She had to pass between some, huts, one of which she
could see was in flames. Hard by she could hear the
sound of a fiddle, and the excited whoops of dancers.
The Red River jig was evidently in full blast. She turned
the corner of a corral and came full on it. Several people
were standing apart round a bare spot of ground. A
capering half-breed, with great red stockings reaching
above his knees, with blanket suit, long crimson sash,
and red tuque on his head, was capering about like a
madman. His partner had just retired exhausted. He caught
sight of Dorothy, and peered into her face.

"My faith!" he exclaimed; "but we shall dance like
that--so? Bien!"

He made a grotesque bow, and seizing her by the arm,
pulled her into the clear space facing him.

CHAPTER VII

DETECTED

For the moment a horrible sickening fear took possession
of Dorothy when she found herself thrust into such a very
prominent position. It was quite bad enough to have to
pass through that scene of pillage and riot, but to pose
as the partner of an excitable half-breed in the execution
of the Red River jig was more than the girl had bargained
for. The fantastic shuffling and capering of the long-legged
metis were wonderful to behold. The tassel of his long
red tuque dangled and bobbed behind him like the pigtail
of a Chinaman trying to imitate a dancing Dervish. His
flushed face, long snaky black locks, and flashing eyes
all spoke of the wild fever in his blood and his Gallic
origin. Still, the girl noted he was not what might be
termed an ill-looking fellow; he did not look bad-natured,
nor was he in drink. He was merely an excited
irresponsible.

The barbaric, musical rhyme on the cat-gut took a fresh
lease of life; the delighted spectators clapped their
hands in time, and supplemented the music with the
regulation dog-like yelps. The Red River jig consists of
two persons of opposite sex standing facing each other,
each possessed with the laudable ambition of dancing his
or her partner down. As may readily be imagined, it is
a dance necessitating considerable powers of endurance.
When one of the dancers sinks exhausted and vanquished,
another steps into the breach. When Dorothy had made her
appearance, a slim and by no means bad-looking half-breed
girl had been unwillingly obliged to drop out of the
dance. The bright