"Musq'oosis, a kind of medicine man of her tribe," answered Mahooley.
"Is he her father?"
"No; her father was a white man."
"Who was he?" Joe asked.
Mahooley shrugged. "Search me! Long before my time."
"If old Musq'oosis is no relation, what does he hang around for?" asked the first questioner.
"Oh, he's always kind of looked after her," said Mahooley. "The other Indians hate her. They think she's too uppish."
"She feeds him; I guess that's reason enough for him to stick around," remarked Mattison.
Here Stiffy spoke up from his cubby-hole: "Hell! Musq'oosis don't need anybody to feed him. He's well fixed. Got a first-class credit balance."
Joe, ever on the watch, saw Mahooley turn his head abruptly and scowl at his partner. Stiffy closed his mouth suddenly. Joe, possessed by a single idea, jumped to the conclusion that Musq'oosis had something to do with the mystery he was on the track of. Anyhow, he determined to find out.