Un'erstand?"

Onistah did as he was told.

They reached the cabin. There was one thing West did not get hold of
in his mind. Why had not the Blackfoot shot him from the tree? He had
had a score of chances. The reason was not one the white man would be
likely to fathom. Onistah had not killed him because the Indian was a
Christian. He had learned from Father Giguere that he must turn the
other cheek.

West, revolver close at hand, cut thongs from the caribou skins.
He tied his captive hand and foot, then removed his moccasins and
duffles. From the fire he raked out a live coal and put it on a flat
chip. This he brought across the room.

"Changed yore mind any? Where's the girl?" he demanded.

Onistah looked at him, impassive as only an Indian can be.

"Still sulky, eh? We'll see about that."

The convict knelt on the man's ankles and pushed the coal against the
naked sole of the brown foot.

An involuntary deep shudder went through the Blackfoot's body. The
foot twitched. An acrid odor of burning flesh filled the room. No
sound came from the locked lips.

The tormentor removed the coal. "I ain't begun to play with you yet.
I'm gonna give you some real Apache stuff 'fore I'm through. Where's
the girl? I'm gonna find out if I have to boil you in grease."

Still Onistah said nothing.

West brought another coal. "We'll try the other foot," he said.

Again the pungent acrid odor rose to the nostrils.

"How about it now?" the convict questioned.

No answer came. This time Onistah had fainted.

CHAPTER XXVIII

"IS A' WELL WI' YOU, LASS?"

Jessie's shoes crunched on the snow-crust. She traveled fast. In spite
of Onistah's assurance her heart was troubled for him. West and Whaley
would study the tracks and come to at least an approximation of the
truth. She did not dare think of what the gorilla-man would do to her
friend if they captured him.

And how was it possible that they would not find him? His footsteps
would be stamped deep in the snow. He could not travel fast. Since he
had become a Christian, the Blackfoot, with the simplicity of a mind
not used to the complexities of modern life, accepted the words of
Jesus literally. He would not take a human life to save his own.

She blamed herself for escaping at his expense. The right thing would
have been to send him back again for her father. But West had become
such a horrible obsession with her that the sight of him even at a
distance had put