Then she looked up and saw him.
"Little Father!" she cried, pleased.
At the same moment Dick caught sight of the new-comer and hobbled out of the wigwam.
"Hello, you old snoozer!" he shouted. "We began to think you weren't going to show up at all. Look at what we've done. I believe you've been lying out in the woods just to dodge work. Where'd you steal that dog?"
"Hello, Dick," replied Sam, unslinging his pack. "I'm tired. Tell her to rustle grub."
He leaned back against a cedar, half-closing his eyes, but nevertheless keenly alert. The changed atmosphere of the camp disturbed him. Although he had not realised it before, he preferred Dick's old uncompromising sulkiness.
In accordance with the woods custom, little was said until after the meal was finished and the pipes lit. Then Dick inquired:
"Well, where you been this time, and what did you find?"
Sam replied briefly as to his journey, making it clear that he had now covered all the hunting districts of this region with the single exception of one beyond the Kenógami. He had discovered nothing; he was absolutely sure that nothing was to be discovered.
"I didn't go entirely by what the Injuns told me," he said, "but I looked at the signs along the trapping routes and the trapping camps to see how many had been at it, and I'm sure the number tallies with the reg'lar Injun hunters. I picked up that dog over to Leftfoot Lake. Come here, pup!"