f's
mind. Quonab took a stick and with a single blow put an end to the
scene, but never did Rolf forget it, and never afterward was he a
willing partner when the trapping was done with those relentless jaws of
steel.

A week later another hen was missing, and the door of the hen house left
open. After a careful examination of the dust, inside and out of the
building, Quonab said, "Coon." It is very unusual for coons to raid a
hen house. Usually it is some individual with abnormal tastes, and once
he begins, he is sure to come back. The Indian judged that he might be
back the next night, so prepared a trap. A rope was passed from the door
latch to a tree; on this rope a weight was hung, so that the door was
selfshutting, and to make it self-locking he leaned a long pole against
it inside. Now he propped it open with a single platform, so set that
the coon must walk on it once he was inside, and so release the door.
The trappers thought they would hear in the night when the door closed,
but they were sleepy; they knew nothing until next morning. Then they
found that the self-shutter had shut, and inside, crouched in one of the
nesting boxes, was a tough, old fighting coon. Strange to tell, he had
not touched a second hen. As soon as he found himself a prisoner he had
experienced a change of heart, and presently his skin was nailed on the
end of the barn and his meat was hanging in the larder.

"Is this a marten," asked little Annette. And when told not,
her disappointment elicited the information that old Warren, the
storekeeper, had promised her a blue cotton dress for a marten skin.

"You shall have the first one I catch," said Rolf.

Life in Van Trumper's was not unpleasant. The mother was going about
again in a week. Annette took charge of the baby, as well as of
the previous arrivals. Hendrik senior was gradually overcoming his
difficulties, thanks to the unexpected help, and a kindly spirit made
the hard work not so very hard. The shyness that was at first felt
toward the Indians wore off, especially in the case of Rolf, he was
found so companionable; and the Dutchman, after puzzling over the
combination of brown skin and blue eyes, decided that Rolf was a
half-breed.

August wore on not unpleasantly for the boy, but Quonab was getting
decidedly restless. He could work for a week as hard as any white man,
but his race had not risen to the dignity of patient, unremitting,
life-long toil.

"How much money have