must hurry! Look--it is growing dark!"

She ran from his arms to the window and he followed her.

"In--fifteen minutes--we will go, Sakewawin. Tara is out there in the
edge of the spruce." Her hand pinched his arm. "Did you--kill him?" she
breathed.

"No. I broke off a leg from the table and stunned him."

"I'm glad," she said, and snuggled close to him shiveringly. "I'm glad,
_Sakewawin_."

In the darkness that was gathering about them it was impossible for him
not to take her in his arms. He held her close, bowing his head so that
for an instant her warm face touched his own; and in those moments while
they waited for the gloom to thicken he told her in a low voice what he
had learned from Brokaw. She grew tense against him as he continued, and
when he assured her he no longer had a doubt her mother was alive, and
that she was the woman he had met on the coach, a cry rose out of her
breast. She was about to speak when loud footsteps in the hall made her
catch her breath, and her fingers clung more tightly at his shoulders.

"It is time," she whispered. "We must go!"

She ran from him quickly and from under the cot where the Indian lay
dragged forth a pack. He could not see plainly what she was doing now.
In a moment she had put a rifle in his hands.

"It belonged to Nisikoos," she said. "There are six shots in it, and
here are all the cartridges I have."

He took them in his hand and counted them as he dropped them into his
pocket. There were eleven in all, including the six in the chamber.
"Thirty-twos," he thought, as he seized them up with his fingers. "Good
for partridges--and short range at men!" He said, aloud: "If we could
get my rifle, Marge...."

"They have taken it," she told him again. "But we shall not need it.
_Sakewawin_," she added, as if his voice had revealed to her the thought
in his mind; "I know of a mountain that is all rock--not so far off as
the one Tara and I climbed--and if we can reach that they will not be
able to trail us. If they should find us...."

She was opening the window.

"What then?" he asked.

"Nisikoos once killed a bear with that gun," she replied.

The window was open, and she was waiting. They thrust out their heads
and listened, and when he had assured himself that all was clear he
dropped out the pack. He lifted Marge down then and followed her. As his
feet struck the ground the slight shock sent a pain through his head
that wrung a low cry from him, and for