"Stop!"
"Confound it!" growled the man, rising to full view, "why didn't you swallow it!"
"I couldn't!" replied Rhoda indignantly. "You don't suppose I wanted to!"
She turned toward the camp. Alchise was standing stolidly covering them with his rifle. Kut-le was walking coolly toward them, while the squaws sat gaping.
"Well!" exclaimed Kut-le. "What can we do for you, Jim?"
The stranger, a rough tramp-like fellow in tattered overalls, wiped his face, on which was a week's stubble.
"I'd always thought you was about white, Cartwell," he said, "but I see you're no better than the rest of them. What are you going to do with me?"
Kut-le eyed his unbidden guest speculatively.
"Well, we'll have something to eat first. I don't like to think on an empty stomach. Come over to my blanket and sit down, Jim."
Ignoring Rhoda, who was watching him closely, Kut-le seated himself on his blanket beside Jim and offered him a cigarette, which was refused.