men were expected from the upper village that day, and that Colina must
wait where she was until she saw them pass below. Finally Marya
pointed avidly to the opal ring.

Colina handed it over. The Indian girl slipped it on her own finger,
gazing at the effect with a kind of incredulous delight. The stolid
Cora looked on disapprovingly.

Suddenly Marya, without so much as a look at her companions, scrambled
to her feet, and hastened silently away through the trees. She was
clutching the ring finger with the other hand as if she feared to lose
it, finger and all. That was the last of Marya.

Sure enough before the sun went down, they saw a party of four Indians
issue out on the little plain from the direction of up river. Crossing
the grass and dismounting, they turned their horses out and cached
their saddles under the willows.

Then they proceeded afoot. Colina waited until she was sure there were
no more to follow; then mounting, she and Cora rode down to the trail.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

THE FINDING OF NESIS.

The afternoon was waning, and Colina, knowing she must have covered
nearly sixty miles, began to keep a sharp lookout ahead. They had had
no adventures by the way, except that of sleeping under the stars
without male protectors near, in itself an adventure to Colina. Colina
took it like everything else, as a matter of course.

Cora had been raised on the trail. In her impatience to arrive Colina
had somewhat scamped her horses' rest, and the grass-fed beasts were
tired.

Issuing from among the trees upon one of the now familiar grassy
bottoms that bordered the river, they saw grazing horses and knew they
were hard upon their destination.

A spur of the hills cut off the view up river. Rounding it, the
teepees spread before them. They were contained in a semicircular
hollow of the hills like an amphitheater, with the river running close
beside.

Colina had decided that in boldness lay her best chance of success.
Clapping heels to her horse's ribs, therefore, she rode smartly into
the square, appearing in the very midst of the Indians before they were
warned. This village differed in no important respect from the others.
Some of the teepees were made of tanned hides in the old way. The
people were of the same stock, but even less sophisticated. Few of
these had even been to Fort Enterprise to trade.

The sudden appearance of Colina's white face affected them something in
the way