s a bear, and
by its side a dwarf with an immense head covered with a
great crop of hair, and with long arms and a broad chest
which indicated great strength.

"Whur-r! What you want here and at this hour of night,
you cut-throats, you?" asked the outspoken manikin in a
voice of sufficient volume to have equipped half-a-dozen
men.

"A sweetheart for you, Pepin. A sweetheart, _mon ami_"
answered the big breed, in a conciliatory voice.

Dorothy nearly sank to the ground in horror when she
heard this rude jest.

"Bah!" cried the manikin, "it is another female you will
want to foist off upon me, is it? Eh? What? But no,
_coquin_, Pepin has not been the catch of the Saskatchewan
all these years without learning wisdom. Who is she--a
prisoner? Eh? Is not that so?"

"That is so, Pepin, she is preesonar, and Riel has ordered
her to be detained here. Your house is the only quiet
one in the town this night, and that is why we came. Tell
Antoine to be so good as to stand back."

Antoine was the bear, which still stood swaying gently
from one side to the other with a comical expression of
inquiry and gravity on its old-fashioned face.

Pepin surveyed the mob with no friendly scrutiny.

"What you want here, you _canaille, sans-culottes?_" he
demanded. And then in no complimentary terms he bade them
begone.

The crowd, however, still lingered, with that spirit of
curiosity peculiar to most crowds; so the dwarf brought
them to their senses. Suddenly poking Antoine in the
ribs, he brought him down on all fours, and then, brushing
past Dorothy and her captors, and still leading the bear,
he charged the mob with surprising agility, scattering
it right and left. It was evident that they stood in
wholesome dread of Pepin and his methods. Then, coming
back with the bear, he put one hand on his heart, and
with a bow of grotesque gallantry, bade Dorothy enter
the house. The Indian he promptly sent about his business
with a sudden blow over the chest that would probably
have injured a white man's bones. The red man looked
for a moment as if he meditated reprisals, but Pepin
merely blinked at the cudgel, and Man-of-might, with a
disgusted "Ough! ough!" changed his mind and incontinently
fled. Dorothy's captor, Pierre La Chene, and Katie, alone
entered the dwarf's abode.

It suddenly occurred to Dorothy that this was the Pepin
Quesnelle of whom and of whose tame bear Rory was wont
to tell tales. Dorothy noticed that Katie ha