all up one of the men to get ready
some supper for you and your attendant."

"I shall be glad of some food, for I have not fired a shot for the last
three days, and my stock of provisions has run short," replied the old
man.

He now called up Greensnake, took off the saddles from the led horses,
and unloaded the baggage animals, placing the packs inside the circle of
carts.

Meantime, Loraine found out where Francois was sleeping, and, arousing
him, told him to get some food ready for their unexpected guests.

Francois at first eyed the strangers askance. Satisfied, however, at
length, that he was a white man, and perhaps a person of more importance
than his costume might betoken, he set diligently to work to boil the
kettle and fry some buffalo meat; the old hunter, who had taken a seat
on a pile of wood near the fire, looking complacently on.

Loraine having assisted Francois in preparing the supper, prompted by
good feeling, and perhaps slightly by curiosity, took a seat by the side
of the stranger, that he might attend to his wants. Immediately
afterwards, the lad who has been introduced as Greensnake glided
noiselessly up in a fashion appropriate to his name, and squatted down
close to his master, waiting patiently until Loraine handed him a share
of the food. Having no cause to conceal the object of their journey,
Loraine explained that he and his companions were bound for Fort
Edmonton, and were pushing on as fast as they could travel, without the
risk of knocking up their horses.

"I wish that you were directing your course rather to Fort Duncan, for I
suspect that Captain Mackintosh and his small garrison are greatly in
want of assistance. From some information brought me by Greensnake, I
suspect that the Blackfeet have formed a plot to take it. Hearing that
the Captain holds the Indians cheaply, and is not likely to be warned by
what I might tell him, I am on my way to Fort Edmonton to advise that he
should be put on his guard, and that assistance may be sent him without
delay."

Loraine was struck by the old man's mode of expressing himself--so
different to the slang language used in general by the rough trappers
and traders of the Far West.

"This is important information, indeed!" he said, feeling anxious about
the safety of his young friend's family, and especially of that young
friend's two sisters; for although he had never seen them, Hector had
shown him their portraits, one of which, cal