THE UNEXPECTED
It was fortunate for Antoine the bear that the taps at the window came when they did, for Pepin with his great arms had got it into such an extraordinary position —doubtless the result of many experiments—that it would most assuredly have had its digestion ruined by the sticks which its irate master was administering in small sections. To facilitate matters, he had drawn its tongue to one side as a veterinary-surgeon does when he is administering medicine to an animal. On hearing the taps the dwarf relinquished his efforts and went to the door. The bear sat up on its haunches, coughing and making wry faces, at the same time looking around for moccasins or boots or something that would enable it to pay its master out with interest, and not be so difficult to swallow when it came to the reckoning.
The dwarf went to the door, and, putting one hand on it, and his head to one side, cried—
"Hello, there! Qui vive? Who are you, and what do you want?"
"All right, Pepin, it's me—Katie."
The door was thrown open, and the half-breed woman entered. At her heels came a man who was so muffled up as to be almost unrecognisable. But Dorothy knew him, and the next moment was in her father's arms. The dwarf hastened to close the door, but before doing so he gazed out apprehensively.
"You are quite sure no one followed you?" he asked Katie, on re-entering the room.
"No one suspected," she replied shortly. "Jean Lagrange has gone to look out for the others. I fear it will go hard with the shermoganish unless you can do something, Pepin."
Dorothy had been talking to her father, but heard the
Indian word referring to the Police.
"I wonder if Mr. Pasmore has got through to the Fort, dad!" she said suddenly.