"Sleep well! Certainly. It was late enough for anyone to sleep well. I want to know where you were, and what kept you out so late. Have any of the Injun bucks come back? If I catch you with any of them, or if you go to their tents, it won't be well for you."
"And was not Bill afraid to sleep well?" the woman answered in her sweetest native tones.
"Afraid? Afraid of what?"
"Does not Bill fear the Big Lakes?"
"The Big Lakes? What are you talking about?" and the squaw man's eyes opened with surprise.
"But does not Bill know that the Big Lakes are all same wolves and foxes? They come up the river; they paddle soft; they wait till night. They come to Hishu; they creep along trail; they go among the cabins; they see much. Is not Bill afraid?"
A slight expression of concern swept across the squaw man's face at these words. He knew of the trouble which existed between the two Indian tribes, and realised what a sudden attack of the wily Big Lakes would mean to his fur-trading business.
"Nadu," he demanded after a minute's thought, "have you seen any of the Big Lakes near Hishu lately?"
"Ah, ah," was the reply.