d I
felt certain that it was the youth whom we had been trailing.

A hurried and very unpleasant thought flashed through my mind: What was
the source of the power the Wild Hunter held over these Indians? They
were not slaves in this mountain-surrounded prison; this grim, forceful
but kindly wild man did not hold them through fear. He always smiled
when he greeted them, but he never smiled at his wolves; when giving
them orders or even looking at them, the expression of his face was
stern and almost fierce. But the man had asked a question. He was
expecting an answer.

"It is a wonderful place," I managed to stammer; "who could conceive of
such a remarkable ranch buried here in the heart of the wilderness?"

"It's a ring-tailed snorter, hamstring me if it hain't," said Big Pete
in an attempt to be enthusiastic.

The man's face glowed with pleasure.

"You are the first white men to see it. I think I have achieved
something here in the wilds, thanks a great deal to Pluto and his
strain."

"Eh, what?" exclaimed Big Pete in alarm.

"To--to--whom," I gasped, for to have the man actually confess an
alliance with Satan rather startled me also.

The Wild Hunter chuckled in an amused manner.

"Thanks to Pluto, I said. But Pluto is that black wolf-dog over there,
nevertheless. I think that the name 'Pluto' fits his character to a
nicety."

He pointed to the massive, deep-chested, long-haired, long-limbed,
vicious looking leader of his black wolf pack where it was chained to a
post. The great animal glared at his master when his name was mentioned.
He crouched twenty feet away with his slanting green eyes fixed
constantly on his master's face and in them ever flared a fierce, wicked
fire.

"Yes, you son of Satan, you and your hybrid whelps have helped me do all
this in spite of the fact that you hate me, and would love to tear me
limb from limb. You splendid, ugly brute, you are insensible to
kindness!"

I noticed that whenever he looked the wolf in the face his own
countenance became grim and his eyes exceedingly fierce and not unlike
the wolf itself in expression.

[Illustration: "I think the name 'Pluto' fits his character to a
nicety"]

"He hates me," he continued, turning to us, "because of his ancestors.
In him is the blood of a Great Dane noted for its strength, size and
ferocity, a fierce brute which I brought over the mountains with me many
years ago. Pluto's mother was a pure black wolf of a mean dispo