mpted to rise but this
movement brought forth a flood of Indian expostulations and he was
forced to lie quiet again.

It was very evident that he was either considered an invalid too ill
to move or was held in bondage. He had never heard that Indian
captives were tucked into soft deerskin robes and fed broth by comely
Indian maidens, however, and if he were a prisoner it did not promise
to be so very disagreeable a captivity.

On the whole it was very pleasant and restful lying there on the soft
skins of which his bed was composed, for he still felt tired and weak.
He took in every detail of his surroundings. The wigwam was circular
in form and of good size. It was made of reindeer skins stretched over
poles very dingy and black, with an opening at the top to permit the
smoke from the fire in the centre to escape. Flat stones raised
slightly above the ground served as a fireplace, and around it were
thickly laid spruce boughs. Some strips of jerked venison hung from
the poles above, and near his feet he glimpsed his own gun and powder
horn.

Bob could see at once that these Indians were much more primitive than
those he knew at the Bay and, unfamiliar as he was with the Indian
language, he noticed a marked difference in the intonation and
inflection when the woman spoke.

"Now," said Bob to himself, "th' Nascaupees must ha' found me an'
these be Nascaupees. But Mountaineers an' every one says Nascaupees be
savage an' cruel, an' I'm not knowin' what un be. 'Tis queer--most
wonderful queer."

He had no recollection of lying down in the snow. The last he could
definitely recall was his fearful battling with the storm. There was a
sort of hazy remembrance of something that he could not quite
grasp--of having gone to sleep somewhere in a snug, warm bed spread
with white sheets. Try as he would he could not explain his presence
in this Indian wigwam, nor could he tell how long he had been here. It
seemed to him years since the morning he left the tilt to go on the
caribou hunt.

So he lay for a good while trying to account for his strange
surroundings until at last he became drowsy and was on the point of
going to sleep when suddenly the entrance flap of the wigwam opened
and two Indians entered--the most savage looking men Bob had ever
seen--and he felt a thrill of fear as he beheld them. They were very
tall, slender, sinewy fellows, dressed in snug fitting deerskin coats
reaching half way to the knees and decorated