I am very grateful."

Pete waved her thanks aside with a royal gesture. "Me! I be glad to be
of use, oh, oui! Leetle Man'zelle mus' not make mooch of nottin', eh?"

He laughed again, but he did not turn to look at her. Nan reached out a
tentative hand and touched his sleeve. "Please, Mr. Pete," she said. "I,
I want to see you. I, I have heard something about your having been hurt
in a fire. I am sure you must think yourself a more hateful sight than
you really are."

A sob seemed to rise in the man's throat, and his shoulders shook. He
turned slowly and looked at her for a moment over his shoulder. Then he
went swiftly away across the snow (for the bobcat had disappeared into
her lair) and Nan stumbled back up the trail toward the camp, the tears
blinding her own eyes.

The disfigured face of the half-breed HAD been a shock to her. She could
never speak of it afterward. Indeed, she could not tell Uncle Henry
about her meeting with the lynx, and her rescue--she shrank so from
recalling Injun Pete's disfigured face.

Chapter XVII. SPRING IN THE BIG WOODS

That visit to the lumber camp was memorable for Nan Sherwood in more
ways than one. Her adventure with the lynx she kept secret from her
relatives, because of the reason given in the previous chapter. But
there was another incident that marked the occasion to the girl's mind,
and that was the threat of Gedney Raffer, reported to her Uncle Henry.

Nan thought that such a bad man as Raffer appeared to be would
undoubtedly carry out his threat. He had offered money to have Mr.
Sherwood beaten up, and the ruffians he had bribed would doubtless be
only too eager to earn the reward.

To tell the truth, for weeks thereafter, Nan never saw a rough-looking
man approach the house on the outskirts of Pine Camp, without fearing
that here was coming a ruffian bent on her uncle's injury.

That Uncle Henry seemed quite to have forgotten the threat only made Nan
more keenly alive to his danger. She dared not discuss the matter
with Aunt Kate, for Nan feared to worry that good woman unnecessarily.
Besides, having been used to hiding from her own mother all unpleasant
things, the girl naturally displayed the same thoughtfulness for Aunt
Kate.

For, despite Mrs. Henry Sherwood's bruskness and masculine appearance,
Nan learned that there were certain matters over which her aunt showed
extreme nervousness.

For instance, she was very careful of the lamps used in the house--s