, he was naked, and his shiny skin gleamed
gold-bronze in the sunlight. He was a singularly handsome child.

"Me--Benny," he lisped in English, holding up his little hand to
Nell.

The action was as loving and trusting as any that could have been
manifested by a white child. Jonathan Zane stared with a curious
light in his dark eyes; Mr. Wells and Jim looked as though they
doubted the evidence of their own sight. Here, even in an Indian
boy, was incontestable proof that the savage nature could be tamed
and civilized.

With a tender exclamation Nell bent over the child and kissed him.

Jonathan Zane swung his canoe up-stream for the purpose of bringing
Joe. The trim little bark slipped out of sight round the bend.
Presently its gray, curved nose peeped from behind the willows; then
the canoe swept into view again. There was only one person in it,
and that the guide.

"Where is my brother?" asked Jim, in amazement.

"Gone," answered Zane, quietly.

"Gone! What do you mean? Gone? Perhaps you have missed the spot
where you left him."

"They're both gone."

Nell and Jim gazed at each other with slowly whitening faces.

"Come, I'll take you up to the village," said Zane, getting out of
his canoe. All noticed that he was careful to take his weapons with
him.

"Can't you tell us what it means--this disappearance?" asked Jim,
his voice low and anxious.

"They're gone, canoe and all. I knew Wetzel was going, but I didn't
calkilate on the lad. Mebbe he followed Wetzel, mebbe he didn't,"
answered the taciturn guide, and he spoke no more.

In his keen expectation and wonder as to what the village would be
like, Jim momentarily forgot his brother's disappearance, and when
he arrived at the top of the bank he surveyed the scene with
eagerness. What he saw was more imposing than the Village of Peace
which he had conjured up in his imagination. Confronting him was a
level plain, in the center of which stood a wide, low structure
surrounded by log cabins, and these in turn encircled by Indian
teepees. A number of large trees, mostly full-foliaged maples,
shaded the clearing. The settlement swarmed with Indians. A few
shrill halloes uttered by the first observers of the newcomers
brought braves, maidens and children trooping toward the party with
friendly curiosity.

Jonathan Zane stepped before a cabin adjoining the large structure,
and called in at the open door. A short, stoop-shouldered white man,
clad in faded li