"Wa-Wa no got claw, no got teeth.'"

"Well, the growl's the real thing, all right, all right," exclaimed Jesse. "The old hag hasn't removed his hug, too, has she?"

"No-o," replied the maiden, doubtfully. "But Dew Drop know Wa-Wa. Um play, Dew Drop an' Wa-Wa.

"Dew Drop come cave any day. Kaw-Kaw deaf no hear.

"Wa-Wa know Dew Drop. No hurt."

"That may be all right for you," snarled Frank, "but Wa-Wa may not take so kindly to our coming."

The series of growls, growing in intensity and volume with each successive outburst, that came from the monster, lent a force to the outlaw's words that even the Indian maiden could not disregard.

"Wa-Wa!" she called, soothingly, adding something in her native tongue.

But the pet of the witch, Kaw-Kaw, as though he recognized among the strangers, whose presence he scented, the man who had grievously wronged his mistress by killing her son, refused to be pacified.