d-island, the gray
buffalo-wolves came up the Vermillion on their way to the sheep-pen of
the Swede, and waked the drowsing valley with their howling. But the
trembling ewes and their babies were not molested; for when the pack
reached the river bank near the farthest slough, they halted to quarrel
at a boulder--till the sun came up in the east again and glittered on a
string of glass wampum lying beside the rock.

XII

THE PROFESSOR'S "FIND"

A NIMBUS of mystery clung to the professor the first two days of his
stay. His arrival, late one afternoon, in the sewing-machine man's
buggy, was as unexplained as it was unexpected; and when he was shown to
the little girl's room, which she hospitably relinquished, he
volunteered neither his name nor his place of residence. The following
morning he left the house, carrying a small paper box and a black
hand-bag, and crossed the fields to the prairie, where he ran about, his
spare figure stooped, as if he were picking something, while his left
hand held an instrument that flashed in the sun. On his return at noon,
his box and bag were closed, and only a green stain on his fingers gave
any suggestion of what he had been doing. He spent the remainder of the
day quietly in his room.

The big brothers made various conjectures about him. The eldest declared
that he was searching for minerals; the biggest thought him a
government agent on a secret mission; while the youngest, to the terror
of the little girl, who had not recovered from her adventure of a month
before with Black Cloud, hinted at a dark purpose and openly asserted
that it was dangerous to have the professor in the house. But, since
their mother would not permit any questioning, their curiosity was not
satisfied nor their fears allayed until the professor, unasked, revealed
his identity.

Then it was ridiculously simple. He was a professor in the botanical
department of an Eastern university, and had come West to obtain floral
specimens. The paper box held his fresh finds; the bag, a telescope with
which to distinguish plants not easily accessible, and a microscope to
study those close at hand. In his trunk were heavy blank books filled
with dried leaves, pressed blossoms, and scientific notes.

When the little girl heard that he taught in one of those colleges,
remote and wonderful, of which she dreamed, her suspicions were
straightway transformed into reverence. She listened eagerly to his
every word, wa