"Lord! No! What ever put that into your head?"
"Blood River Jack told us when we were coming out about you—only we didn't know it was you, then. And he said that his sister was pretty, and she loved you, and she went down the river with you for three or four days, or something. And Eth thinks you love this half-breed girl. And, maybe, if you did marry her, Eth would marry St. Ledger; but she don't love him."
Bill sat suddenly erect, and the arm about the boy's shoulder tightened and shook him roughly.
"Look here! How do you know? I read an account of their engagement 'way along last winter."
"That was a dang lie! 'Cause I was in the den when she called St. Ledger up about it. She gave him the darndest talking to he ever got, and she told him she never would marry him as long as she lived. And Eth does love you! And you ought to heard her stick up for you when old——"
The boy stopped abruptly, suddenly remembering his uncle's injunction of silence. "There's an old dead tree right close to the door of the cave," he added hastily. "We might get some wood off that."
"What were you saying?" inquired Bill. "Never mind the wood."
"Nothing—I forget, I mean. Come on, let's get some wood—I'm hungry."
And in spite of his most persistent efforts, not another word could Bill Carmody get out of the youngster, except the mournful soliloquy that:
"I bet Uncle Appleton will whale me—anyway, he couldn't whale as hard as you."