ome right here an' talk like that, mister. Lord St. Olave
ain't anyways likely t' accept friendly calls from the likes o' you.
Thar's too much bad blood 'tween you an' him fer that. Anyhow, he's
not at home, an' won't be for a long while. So thar's no use your
hangin' around."

"Won't be for a long while," Broken Feather repeated. Then with a look
of cunning he added: "It will be a longer while than you think."

As he went away, treading very silently, he looked round and spoke in
his own tongue, which neither Abe nor Rube could understand. He
disappeared as mysteriously as he had come. When he was out of sight,
Mee-Mee went up to Abe Harum.

"You no savvy what he say," she said. "I savvy heap. He say Kiddie
never, never come back. He say he catch Kiddie on trail, kill him,
take him scalp."

"I don't notion he came here ter say that, though," said Rube.

"What d'you reckon he come for?" asked Abe.

"Dunno," said Rube. "But I got a idea. Mother," he turned to Mee-Mee,
"jus' you hustle back t' the homestead an' let the big dog loose, will
yer?"

"What in thunder d'you want the dog for?" questioned Abe.

"I didn't think of it till he'd gone," returned Rube. "But jus' after
you come along, he took out his tobacco pouch ter make a cigarette, but
didn't make one. Before that, he stretched out his hand ter touch this
yer plan, an' drew his arm back as if the paper'd burnt him. Now why?
Ain't it plain? His arm was sore; he couldn't roll a cigarette. When
he stretched out his hand it hurt him. It was his left hand, Abe.
Kiddie made out that the man as fired that poisoned arrow was bitten in
the left arm when the hound attacked him. See?"

"Yes, but what about the hob-nailed boots?" asked Abe. "I noticed that
Broken Feather's wearin' moccasins. And uncommonly gay ones they are."

"Nobody c'd help noticin' 'em," argued Rube. "That's what he wanted,
in case we'd heard about the boot-tracks. Ain't he just cute, puttin'
us off the scent thataway?"

"That don't explain why he should come prowlin' around here," pursued
Abe. "What did he want here, anyway? What's your idea?"

"This," said Rube. "Broken Feather calculated he wouldn't find Kiddie
here to-day. He knew that Kiddie was ridin' with the Express. That
was his chance--ter come here while Kiddie was away and ter prowl
around in search of that hound--meanin' ter shoot her at sight with
that heavy six-shooter that he carried. That was his e