rpent with his right hand) he commenced dancing until he had
cleared an open circular space, of which the Indians and the white men
formed the border.

Suddenly he sprang to the middle and tossed the snake to the ground,
while he uttered a wild shriek.

Once on the earth, the snake glided swiftly in several directions, while
all watched the creature with tense excitement. Then for a second it
seemed to pause with its head in the direction of the Englishmen. At the
same moment the Indian gave a cry of triumph, tucked the one snake into
a fold of his robe and bent down, making passes with his hands above the
serpent on the ground. And as his hands moved so the rattlesnake
gradually straightened out its body till it lay stiff and straight as a
piece of wood.

Thunder-maker paused. Then he rose up slowly and looked with triumph
straight into the chief's face.

"My children say that the time has come to take the cloud from the
Dacotah. My papooses show _who_ answer call of fiery totem!"

CHAPTER VII

THE FRIEND IN NEED

Even considering the serious nature of their quest and the plight they
were in, it was not possible for the boys to refrain from laughing when
they recognised Britain's national song as caricatured by the singer.
But they had sufficient wisdom to control most of their amusement to
"inward laughing." It is not always safe in the backwoods to announce
your presence too suddenly where strangers are concerned--especially
strangers who are not of the white skin.

"That's a rum sort of music to come upon a hundred miles from nowhere,"
remarked Bob, with a grin, to his chum.

"Let's hope that it comes from a throat that has something of
civilisation about it," said Alf.

"It doesn't sound quite like a white man. That 'ne-vaire' is more French
accent than English--probably a half-breed."

"What do you think we ought to do?"

"Investigate. We've got no choice. We're lost; that's certain enough.
What's more, there seems to be very little chance of finding our own
trail back to the camp."

"That's true enough," Alf assented. "But suppose we come upon a camp of
half-breeds, as you suggested? I've heard that they're not the best of
friends to white people in out-of-the-way places."

Arnold nodded in agreement.

"I dare say that's true. But, at the same time, most yarns of the kind
have usually got large bits of ornamental stuff stuck round the facts.
We'll have to take our chance of falling in