."

The Indian glanced at him gravely.

"The Mohawks were an Iroquois tribe," he explained courteously.
"Mohawks, Senecas, Tionontati, Cayuga, Oneida--all were tribes of the
Iroquois. Yes I see you recognize those names--many places in this
country have been named for Indians."

"Are you an Iroquois?" asked Betty, rather timidly, for she feared
lest the question should be considered impolite.

"I am a Kiowa," announced the redman proudly. "Oklahoma and Kansas
were the home of the Kiowas, the Pawnees and the Comanches. And you
see oil has been found here. In Texas, where the big oil fields are,
once roved Wichitas. The Dakotas, some tribes of which were the
Biloxi, the Opelousas and the Pascagoulas, lived on the gulf plains
of Louisiana. Out in southern California, where the oil wells now
flow, the Yokut Indians once owned the land. They tell me that where
oil had been discovered in Central America, petroleum seeps to the
surface of the land where once the Indian tribes were found."

"Did the Indians use the oil?" asked Bob. He, like Betty, was
fascinated with the musical names of the mysterious tribes as they
rolled easily from the Kiowa's tongue.

"Not as the white man does," was the answer. "The Senecas skimmed the
streams for oil and sometimes spread blankets over the water till
they were heavy with the oil. They used oil for cuts and burns and
were famed for their skill in removing the water from the oil by
boiling. Dances and religious rites were observed with the aid of
oil. The Siouan Indians, who lived in West Virginia and Virginia,
knew, too, of natural gas. They tossed in burning brands and watched
the flames leap up from pits they themselves had dug.

"You will find," the Indian continued, evidently approving of the
rapt attention of his audience, "many wells now owned by Indians and
leased to white-men companies. The Osage have big holdings. They are
reservation Indians, mostly--perhaps they can not help that. I must
go to the plowing."

He gathered up his harness and went off to the field, and Bob and
Betty resumed their explorations, talking about him with interest.
Their tour of the shabby outbuildings was soon completed, and just in
time for a huge bell rung vigorously announced that dinner was on the
table.

That afternoon they found Grandma Watterby braiding rugs under the
one large tree in the side yard, and she welcomed them warmly.

"I was just wishing for some one to talk to," she said