pecting him to wear them when next he should appear in public.

Kiddie bowed to them as the counsellors filed slowly out of the lodge.
When they had closed the door-flap behind them he turned round to Rube
Carter.

"Feelin' better now, Rube?" he asked. "I'll dress that cut on your
cheek again, 'fore you go to sleep. Dunno about your hip. Is it
painin' you?"

"Some," Rube answered. "But don't you worry. I ain't thinkin' about
my wounds. I'm thinkin' about you. What's the matter with that
head-dress? Ain't you goin' ter put it on, and lemme see how you look
in it? What about a dress rehearsal?"

Kiddie shook his head.

"Gee!" exclaimed Rube. "Ain't you figurin' ter take it on, then--this
boss chieftainship that they've offered you?"

"Not I," said Kiddie, very decisively.

"Made up your mind against it?"

"Yes. I'd made up my mind before Short Nose began to speak. I'd
guessed what was coming."

"Um!" murmured Rube. "Dunno whether t' be glad or sorry. Why didn't
you tell 'em, Kiddie?"

"Because they wouldn't have liked it if I'd said No right at once.
Much better to let them suppose that I'm hesitatin', wonderin' over it,
weighin' the proposition in a balance. Why, Rube, you didn't think for
a moment that I would take it on, did you?"

Rube shrugged his shoulders.

"You might have done what Broken Feather's tryin' to do," said Rube.
"You might have made yourself as great a chief as Red Cloud or Sitting
Bull. Besides, it's a biggish thing ter be a Injun chief. Next door
t' bein' a king."

Kiddie smiled.

"I might have been an Injun chief years an' years ago," he remarked.
"But my ambitions don't lie in that direction. See?"

"Of course," Rube nodded. "I was forgettin' that you're a English
nobleman, with a seat in the House of Lords. I'm allus forgettin'
that. But what d'you mean t' do, Kiddie--now, I mean? Ain't you goin'
ter stop here just for a week or two, an' see what it feels like t' be
a Injun chief?"

"No." Kiddie turned to his blankets. He was very tired. "No," he
repeated. "I'm goin' to stay until you're well enough to be moved.
Then we shall find the canoe and our outfit, and go right back home to
Sweetwater Bridge."

"Trip comin' to an abrupt conclusion, eh?" queried Rube.

"That's about the size of it," nodded Kiddie. "The fine weather won't
hold out much longer, and I guess there's a whole heap of letters
waitin' for me to answer 'em."

"Well, anyhow, we've