The same look that Emerson had noted when their hostess introduced herself
to them flitted again into the crook's unsteady eyes.

"Yes, but _who_ is she? What does this mean?" Emerson pointed to the
provisions and fittings about them. "What is she doing here alone?"

"Maybe you'd better ask her yourself," said Fraser.

For the first time in their brief acquaintance, Emerson detected a strange
note in the rogue's voice, but it was too slight to provoke reply, so he
brushed it aside and prepared himself for dinner.

The Indian girl summoned them, and they followed her through the long
passageway into the other house, where, to their utter astonishment, they
seemed to step out of the frontier and into the heart of civilization.
They found a tiny dining-room, perfectly appointed, in the centre of
which, wonder of wonders, was a round table gleaming like a deep mahogany
pool, upon the surface of which floated gauzy hand-worked napery, glinting
silver, and sparkling crystal, the dark polish of the wood reflecting the
light from shaded candles. It held a delicately figured service of blue
and gold, while the selection of thin-stemmed glasses all in rows
indicated the character of the entertainment that awaited them. The men's
eyes were too busy with the unaccustomed sight to note details carefully,
but they felt soft carpet beneath their feet and observed that the walls
were smooth and harmoniously papered.

When one has lived long in the rough where things come with the husk on,
he fancies himself weaned away from the dainty, the beautiful, and the
artistic; after years of a skillet-and-sheath-knife existence he grows to
feel a scorn for the finer, softer, inconsequent trifles of the past, only