a little way, some looking for elk and others for muskrat, so that
the impudent Metis might go about seeking to break hearts without any
risk of getting a broken head.

When night had fallen over the prairie, and the bull-frog and the
cricket filled the lower air with a confusing din of small sounds,
thirty dusky warriors, mounted upon their ponies, with Tall Elk and
Jean at their head, crossed over the ridge and struck out for White
Oaks. An hour's ride brought them to an elevation from which they saw
a light twinkling through the grove. Jean's small eyes were gleaming
with foul expectation--he was thinking of his lovely booty, safe
under the lock and key of his hideous little Metis mother.

"Let us spread our force now, chief," he whispered to Tall Elk. And
we leave them drawing their circle of horses, stealthily and swiftly,
around the silent cottage.




CHAPTER IV.

ANNETTE'S LOVER IN DANGER.


When Annette parted from Captain Stephens and his companions, she
returned homeward through a region of the prairie over which lay no
trail. She approached her cottage with noiseless tread; but the quick
eyes of Julie saw her coming, and she stole forth like a kitten.