nclined to be hostile. Then, again,
he saw that it was no fierce face of a warrior that bent over him, but
the pitying one of a child.

"Hello! Who are you?" he asked, a little weakly, for his head was still
swimming more or less from his shock.

"Little Mink," came the reply, though the boy apparently had to nerve
himself to keep from running away.

"And you found me knocked out, did you? What are you doing here, Little
Mink?" Frank sat up as he spoke, though he realized that he would be
unsteady on his feet when he tried to stand.

"Teepee down by river, not far off. Little Mink have snare for rabbit.
Him go see if ketch one, find paleface here. Think dead, then him open
eyes. Good!"

Frank was amused at the air of the little fellow. He knew something
about the ways of civilized Indians, having been among them in Maine,
hence he could see that this boy was endeavoring to ape the manners of
his elders.

"Would you help me get down to your camp, Little Mink? I feel weak after
my tumble, and my own camp is far away," he said.

Now, Frank knew very well that a loud shout would, in all probability,
have fetched Jerry to the spot. He had an object in making this appeal
to the Indian lad, and watched his dusky face closely as the other
considered the proposal.

Perhaps Frank, fearing a refusal, may have put on more agony than the
state of his feelings really warranted. At any rate, he succeeded in
swerving the boy from a condition of caution to that of sympathy.

"Little Mink help. Him lead paleface to teepee," he said, and the look
that accompanied the words told Frank as plainly as words could have
done that the boy was trusting in his honor not to betray them.

Accordingly, he hung on to the lad, and in this fashion they went for
half a mile or so, when the river was reached. Presently Frank
discovered signs of a camp not far in the distance. A little pale smoke
was rising over the thicket, and he also saw a conical skin teepee,
while on the shore were three bullboats.

As Little Mink came into camp, assisting the white hunter, several
squaws began an excited jabber that brought out a couple of bucks.

"A hungry-looking lot all around," was the mental comment of the young
hunter.

He had seen that Little Mink did not look as though he had enjoyed a
bountiful share of food lately, and the rest of the party were certainly
no better off.

One of the bucks was an old man, yet he seemed to have a certain dign