uggested Rod.

"No, he couldn't leave the Post. If he went Wabi would have to stay."

Rod was counting on his fingers.

"That means six in our next expedition,--Wabi, Mukoki, John Ball and
myself, and you and Maballa. Why, it'll be a regular picnic party!"

Minnetaki's eyes were brimming with fun.

"Do you know," she said, "that Maballa thinks Mukoki is just about the
nicest Indian that ever lived? Oh, I'd be so glad if--if--"

She puckered her mouth into a round, red O, and left Rod to guess the
rest. It was not difficult for him to understand.

"So would I," he cried. Then he added,

"Muky is the best fellow on earth."

"And Maballa is just as good," said the girl loyally.

The boy held out his hand.

"Let's shake on that, Minnetaki! I'll handle Mukoki, you take care of
Maballa. What a picnic this next trip will be!"

"And there'll be lots and lots of adventures, won't there?" asked the
girl a little anxiously.

"Plenty of them." Rod became immediately serious. "This will be the
most important of all our trips, Minnetaki, that is, if John Ball
lives. I haven't told the others, but I believe that great cavern
holds something for us besides gold!"

The smile left the girl's face. Her eyes were soft and eager.

"You believe that--Dolores--"

"I don't know what to believe. But--we'll find something there!"

For an hour Rod and Minnetaki talked of John Ball and of the strange
things he said in his delirium. Then the girl rejoined Mrs. Drew and
the princess mother, while Rod went in search of Mukoki and Wabigoon.
That night the big event happened. George Newsome, the factor, gave
a reluctant consent which meant that Wabi's sister and Maballa would
accompany the adventurers on their next journey into the untraveled
solitudes of Hudson Bay.

For a week John Ball hovered between life and death. After that his
improvement was slow but sure, and each day added strength to his
emaciated body and a new light to his eyes. At the end of the second
week there was no question but that he was slowly returning to sanity.
Gradually he came to know those who sat beside his bed, and whenever
Rod visited him he insisted on holding the youth's hand. At first the
sight of Minnetaki or her mother, or of Mrs. Drew, had a startling
effect on him and in their presence he would moan ceaselessly the name
Rod first heard in the cavern. A little at a time the language of
those about him came back to the old man, and bit by bit t