Everything on the face of
the map was surveyed and charted in his mind,
in accordance with his habits and training.
This done, he turned toward his secret dwelling.
As he walked rapidly and noiselessly through
the hidden valleys and along the singing
streams, he noticed fresh signs of the deer, elk,
and other wild tribes among whom he had chosen
to abide. "They shall be my people," he said
to himself.
Behind a group of cedars he paused to rec-
onnoiter, and saw the pine-bough wigwam like
a giant plant, each row of boughs overlapping
the preceding circular row like the scales of a
fish. Stasu was sitting before it upon a buffalo-
robe, attired in her best doeskin gown. Her
delicate oval face was touched with red paint,
and her slender brown hands were occupied
with a moccasin meant for him to wear. He
could scarcely believe that it was a mortal
woman that he saw before him in broad day
--the pride of No Man's Trail, for that is
what the Crow Indians call that valley!
"Ho, ho, kechuwa!" he exclaimed as he
approached her, and her heart leaped in recog-
nition of the magnetic words of love.
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