"Now, I believe there is something else beside a _tamahnawus_
down there at Hill Lake. And I'm going back there and find out what it
is."

Pierre Bonnet Rouge shook his head emphatically. "No. I ain' goin'
'long. I w'at you call, learn lesson for fool wit' _tamahnawus_."

"That's all right. I won't ask you to go. I am not afraid of the
_tamahnawus_. If 'Merican Joe won't go with me, I'll go alone. I want
you to tell me, though, what became of James Dean? Is he mixed up in
this?"

The Indian smoked without answering for so long a time that the boy
feared that he would never speak, but after a while he removed the pipe
from his mouth and regarded the boy sombrely. "You _skookum tillicum_,"
he began, gravely. "I ain' lak I see you mak' de _tamahnawus_ mad. De
_tamahnawus_, she mor' _skookum_ as you. She git you. I tell you all I
know 'bout dat _tamahnawus_. Den, if you goin' back to de lak--" he
paused and shrugged meaningly, and turning to the squaw, who had
finished washing the supper dishes, he motioned with his hand, and the
woman threw a brilliant red shawl over her head and passed out the door.

Pierre Bonnet Rouge refilled his pipe, and hunching his chair closer to
Connie, leaned toward him and spoke in a low tone. "She start long tam
ago--six, seven year. We camp on de Blackwater. Wan tam in de winter,
me, an' Ton-Kan, an' John Pickles, we go on de beeg caribou hunt. We
swing up by de beeg lak' an' by-m-by we com' on de cabin. She w'ite man
cabin, an' no wan hom', but de fresh track lead sout'. Ton-Kan, he t'ink
de man got de _hooch_ to trade an' he want som' _hooch_, an' John
Pickles too--so we fol' de track. By-m-by we com' to Hill Lak', an' de
man she got de leetle camp by de hill. He ain' got no _hooch_. We got
som' fox trap 'long, so we mak' de camp. Plent' fox track roun' de lak',
an' we say tomor' we set de trap. Dat night com' de man to de camp. Say,
'nem James Dean.' Say, 'w'at you Injun goin' do?' I say, 'we goin' trap
de fox. He ain' lak dat. By-m-by he say, 'you got look out. De
_tamahnawus_ fox here. She talk lak de man.' I ain' b'lieve dat. I t'ink
he say dat 'cos he wan' to trap de fox. But Ton-Kan an' John Pickles git
scare. I say, 'de _tamahnawus_ ain' git you, he mebbe-so ain' git me,
neider.' He say, 'me--I got de strong medicine. De _tamahnawus_ she know
me. She do lak I say.' I ain' b'lieve dat, an' he say, 'You wait, I show
you. I go back to my camp an' mak de medicine an' I tell de _tamah