"But they look so wild!" pleaded the poor mother. "They are wild.
Fancy letting our Tony go alone into the heart of the Blackfoot country!
Oh! I can't think of it!"
Fortunately for her peace of mind the train conductor overheard her words, and, smiling at her fears, said, rather dryly:
"Madam, if your boy is as safe from danger and harm and evil in the city of Toronto as he will be with North Eagle in the prairie country, why, I congratulate you."
The words seemed to sting the good lady. She felt, rather than knew, the truth of them, and the next moment her consent was given.
The face of North Eagle seemed transformed when he got her promise to let Tony go. "I bring him back safe, plenty time for train," was all he said.
Then Sleeping Thunder spoke for the first time—spoke but the one word,
"Safe." Then pointing across the prairie, he repeated, "Safe."
"That's enough, my dear," said the Professor firmly. "Tony is as safe as in a church."
"Yes," replied Mrs. Allan, "the chief means that word 'safe.' And as for that boy, I believe he would die before he'd let Tony's little finger be harmed."
And as events proved, she was almost right.
Within the hour they were off, North Eagle bareback on a wiry cayuse, Tony in a Mexican saddle, astride a beautiful little broncho that loped like a rocking-horse.