nted him. They might be
journeying far southward in the land of the Creeks and Chickasaws, or to
the homes of the Dacotah in the frozen north, or westward toward the
Rocky Mountains.

Kellogg and Crumpet now fell into an earnest discussion of the question,
for, though agreeing in the main, they differed on minor points, in
which each was persistent in his views. Deerfoot listened to every word,
for, like a wise man, he was anxious to gain all the knowledge he could
from others.

But he noticed that for several minutes Burt Hawkins took no part in the
conversation. He had sat down again on the log, thrown one leg over
another, and was slowly stroking his handsome beard, while his gaze was
fixed on the ground in front. He was evidently in deep thought.

Such was the fact, and just as the lull came, he reached his conclusion.
Deliberately rising to his full height, he walked over to where Deerfoot
stood, and with another slap on his shoulder, said:

"See here, young man!"

The warrior faced him, earnest, attentive, and interested. Burt shifted
the weight of his body, so that it rested on his right leg; he looked
down in the eyes of Deerfoot, his brow wrinkled as in the case when a
man is about to deliver himself of the most important and original
thoughts of his life. Then he began wabbling the index finger of his
right hand in the face of the warrior, as a man with the important and
original thought is inclined to do. He commenced to wabble quite slowly,
gradually increasing the amplitude of the vibrations, and passing his
finger so close to the countenance of the Shawanoe that it seemed
almost to graze the end of his nose. He spoke slowly, pointing his words
with his swaying finger:

"Deerfoot, I've got the question answered; listen to me: them boys have
been tooken away by Injins; I know it; now where have the Injins gone?
You ought to know as much about your race as me, but you don't; do what
I tell you; go to the south till you come to some Injin village; make
your inquiries there; if they haven't got the boys, they'll know whether
the tribe that took 'em passed through their country, 'cause they
couldn't very well do so without some of their warriors finding it out.
If none of them don't know nothing about no such party, you can make up
your mind you're barking up the wrong tree; then take an excursion west
and do the same thing; then, if you don't learn anything, try toward the
north; there ain't any use in g