, that we might be Crees, or a party of Blackfeet,
for such he knows are at present out on the war-path," answered the
sentry.

"Tell him that we shall be glad to see his chief, whoever he is, if he
comes as a friend," said Loraine. "Until I know his business, I will
not arouse Mr Burnett, who requires a good rest; and I dare say it will
keep until to-morrow morning."

The sentry spoke to the hump-backed Indian, who quickly disappeared in
the gloom; and Loraine walked up and down, waiting for his return.

"You must not be thrown off your guard, Pierre, lest some trick should
be intended," he remarked, recollecting the numberless tales of Indian
treachery he had heard.

"I know the coquins (rogues) too well for that," answered Pierre.

In a short time, Loraine saw through the gloom two persons on horseback,
with a couple of led horses, approaching. They rode fearlessly up to
the camp. The first, from the white hair hanging down under his fur
cap, and his snowy beard, and wrinkled, weather-beaten features, though
he sat upright and firmly in his saddle, was apparently an old man. His
costume, consisting of a leathern coat and leggings, fringed in the
usual fashion, and the rifle slung at his back, showed that he was one
of the free white hunters, or trappers, who have been wont for many a
year to roam amid the prairies and forests in the north-west in search
of peltries. The other person, leading the two pack horses, Loraine
recognised as the hump-backed Indian who had just before come to the
camp.

"I am glad to have fallen in with you, friends," said the old man,
dismounting. "You keep early hours and a careful watch. I expected to
have seen you carousing, and quaffing the accursed fire-water, as so
many of you travellers from the Far East are wont to do. To say the
truth, when I first caught sight of your camp-fires, I was uncertain
whether they were those of Crees or Blackfeet; and as I had no fancy to
fall in with the one or the other, I sent on my lad Greensnake to learn
the state of the case."

"Then he was the person I saw at the top of the hillock out there,"
observed Loraine.

"Not he; he would not have exposed himself in that fashion," said the
old man.

"Then my eyes must have deceived me, after all," said Loraine. "I'm
sure Mr Burnett, the leader of our party, will welcome you to the camp;
but he is asleep at present, and I should be sorry to disturb him
unnecessarily. I will, however, c