was a long
bow.

She stood motionless as a statue, striking, picturesque and graceful,
and for a full minute the usually collected and loquacious Ed gazed at
her in speechless surprise.

"Good evenin'," said he finally, regaining his composure and his power
of speech at the same time. "I weren't expectin' t' find any one here
but Ungava Bob an' Shad Toobridge. Be they in th' tilt?"

With Ed's words she took a step forward, and in evident excitement
launched upon him a torrent of Indian sentences spoken so rapidly and
with such vehemence that, though he boasted a smattering of the
language, he was unable to comprehend in the least what she was
saying. It was evident, however, she was addressing him upon some
subject of import.

"There now," he interrupted finally, forgetting even his smattering of
Indian and addressing her in English, "just 'bide there a bit, lass,
whilst I gets Dick Blake. He knows your lingo better'n me. I'll send
he up."

And, hurrying down the trail, he called:

"Dick, come up here. They's a Injun lass at th' tilt, firin' a lot o'
lingo at me I can't fathom."

"A Injun lass!" exclaimed Dick. "What's she doin' there, now? An'
where's Bob an' Shad?"

"Yes, a Injun lass," said Ed impatiently, "an' what she's doin' you'll
have t' find out. It seems like she's achin' t' tell somethin'. I'm
not seein' Bob an' Shad."

"They must be somethin' wrong, Ed. Come down an' help Bill get th'
cargo ashore, an' I'll find out what 'tis;" and Dick hurried up the
trail past Ed, to meet Manikawan, for she it was.

She was still standing where Ed had left her, and Dick asked kindly in
Indian:

"What message does the maiden bring to her white brothers?"

"Listen!" she commanded, in a clear, musical voice. "I am Manikawan,
the daughter of Sishetakushin, whose lodge is pitched on the shores of
the Great Lake, to the north. Yesterday some men of the South visited
the lodge of my father."

"Mingens!" exclaimed Dick.

"They told him," she continued, not heeding the interruption, "that
five suns back they had found a lodge built where the big river
broadens. The lodge was newly made. It was a white man's lodge, for it
was built of trees. The men of the South waited in hiding at the end
of the portage that was once used by my people. It is above the place
where evil spirits dwell."

"How many of the men of the South were there?" asked Dick, again
interrupting.

"Six," she answered promptly. "While they wai