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104 here, and if you harm me it will go hard with you."

At this all of the Indians laughed.

"No white man around here—we on guard all time," said Spotted Nose.

"On guard, eh? And yet you didn't see me come in, Dirty Nose?"

"Spotted Nose did see Pawnee Brown," was the answer; but this was a falsehood. An Indian hates to admit that he has been in any manner outwitted by a white man.

"You tell a good story, Dirty Nose." Pawnee Brown turned to Yellow Elk. "Yellow, how did you run across that girl?"

"Yellow Elk no tell his secrets," came the answer. "Pawnee Brown fool to ask. Pawnee Brown think him heap sly, like fox, but him sly only like cow!" This produced laugh, for the Indians from the Indian Territory are not as stolid as were their forefathers, and thoroughly enjoy their own rude manner of joking.

Presently Yellow Elk turned to his companions and spoke to them in an undertone. A moment later, he sped away, but whether in pursuit of Nellie Winthrop or not, Pawnee Brown could not tell.

The Indian chief was gone fully an hour, and came back looking unusually grave.