gan to
soften, and signs of his sense of humor began to appear about his mouth.
And he turned on his heel, and walked away, leaving Whitey to his grief.

CHAPTER VII

EDUCATION AND OTHER THINGS

Winter dragged coldly by, saddened by the lessons of John Big Moose, and
brightened by an occasional hunting trip the boys took to the mountains.
Sitting Bull did not seem to justify Whitey's first idea of him; that he
was a magnet for excitement. Apparently Bull was satisfied to lie by the
big living-room stove and sleep, except when the boys were going for
game. Then he was eager to go.

"That there dog is like some folks," declared Bill Jordan. "He's
powerful smart, but he's got a lot o' false idees 'bout himself. He
ain't built for huntin' no more'n he is for runnin'. Why don't you take
him along onc't, an' show him his mistake?"

So one day when the snow was light, and snowshoes were not needed, Injun
and Whitey took Bull to the hills with them, and he was mad with
delight. But all he did was to rush excitedly about and frighten the
game, except once, when Whitey had a good but hard shot at a rabbit.
Then Bull got between Whitey's legs and tripped him up, so that Whitey
missed the shot.

The boys came back without any game, and apparently without convincing
Bull that he was no hunter, for the next time they started he was just
as eager to go as before.

"You thought he'd be cured of wanting to hunt, but he isn't," Whitey
said reproachfully to Bill Jordan. "I don't think he's so smart, after
all."

"Smart!" exclaimed Bill. "Why, he's just nachally too clever t' give up.
He'd keep on tryin' till he did b'come a great hunter."

This was the usual satisfaction Whitey got out of Bill's arguments, but
Bull went hunting no more.

One of the boys' other diversions had to do with a Chinaman named Wong
Lee. Wong had succeeded the colored man, Slim, as cook at the Bar O.
Slim had thought the Montana winter too severe for his miseries, and had
gone South for good, and as Wong was a much better cook, no one felt
sorry. Wong was placid, industrious, and very amiable, but beneath all
this he must have had nerves, as I suppose Chinamen have, in common with
other people.

He slept in a shack near the bunk house, and carried his industry so far
that at night he would do all the washing that was to be done at the
ranch house, for which he was paid extra. And here was the boys' chance.
Injun was like most other boys when