Clawhammer com' 'long an' he say he ain' fin' no track. He
begin to git scare 'bout dat yell, w'en he don' fin' de track. So he
show me wan fox what he took from de trap. It is de black fox wit' de
ermine collar! Clawhammer ver' mooch scare now. He wan' to run away. But
I tell um we got to skin dat fox. If we don' skin um, we goin' to mak'
_Sah-ha-lee Tyee_ ver' mad. _Tamahnawus_ he ver' mad anyhow; so we mak'
him de present, an' we skin de fox, an' put de skin an' de collar on de
_cache_ too. Den mebbe-so _tamahnawus_ ain' so mad w'en he git de guns
an' de blankets, an' de fox skin back. So we go 'way from dat lak' ver'
fas'.

"Dat day I bre'k my leg. An' nex' day Clawhammer's tepee burn up. So we
git bad luck. Den de bad luck go 'way, cos _tamahnawus_ fin' dat
_cache_, an' he ain' so mad. But every tam de leetle moon com' I tak'
som' mor' grub to de _cache_. An' so, I keep de luck good."

"And do you think it's still there on the _cache_--the fox skin and the
collar?"

The Indian shrugged. "I ain' know 'bout dat. Mebbe-so de _tamahnawus_
fox com' an' git he's skin. 'Bout wan year ago Bear Lake Injun, _nem_
Peter Burntwood, trap wan fox way up on de beeg lak'. She black fox, an'
she got de collar of ermine skin. Me--I'm over to Fort Norman w'en he
bring in de skin an' de collar, an' trade de skin to McTavish."

"What did McTavish make of it?" asked Connie eagerly.

"He ain' b'lieve dat. He t'ink Peter Burntwood mak' dat collar to fool
um. He say Peter Burntwood lak too mooch to tell de beeg lie."

"But didn't you tell McTavish about the fox you shot, and the one you
trapped with the collar on?"

"No. I ain' say nuttin'. Dat hurt too mooch to bre'k de leg. I ain' want
dat _tamahnawus_ mad on me no mor'."

Connie was silent for a long time as he racked his brain for some
reasonable explanation of the Indian's strange story, pieced out by what
he, himself, had actually seen and heard at the lake. But no explanation
presented itself and finally he shook his head.

"W'at you t'ink 'bout dat?" asked Pierre Bonnet Rouge, who had been
watching the boy narrowly.

"I don't know. There's something back of it all--but I can't seem to
figure what it is. I'm going back to that lake, though, and I'm going to
stay there till I do know."

The Indian shook his head forebodingly. "Dat better you keep way from
dat lak'. She no good. James Dean he fool wit de _tamahnawus_. An' he
hav' de strong medicine to mak' de _tamahnawus