“See here,” said Hammond, looking up in his frank, pleasing manner, “you seem to be a good, honest soul, and I will tell you something, confidentially. You are wondering why I am in this out-of-the-way part of the world, and I reply that I am seeking not gold, but what is far above gold and pearls--and that is the lady you saw on horseback to-night!”
“I b’lieve I’ll dig out of these parts,” said Black Tom, with a sigh, after he had heard the explanation of Fred Hammond.
“Things don’t look right to me; I don’t understand ’bout that speckled critter, nor ’bout the critter I’ve seen on the kenyon on horseback. I b’lieve _she’s_ a sperit.”
“No; she’s as much flesh and blood as you are. I have spoken to her.”
“Have you axed her to dig out of these parts?”
“We’ll let the answer to that question remain in abeyance for the present,” was the graceful response of Hammond. “I think she will do so, but the time has not yet come for such an important step to be taken.”
“Let me ax you something else, then. Do them Blackfeet where she’s stayin’ _b’long thar_?”
“They have lived there a long time, and no doubt expect to remain there for a long time to come, but they do not belong to the Blackfeet tribe.”
“I’ve heard tell of them, years ago, but I thought they war all dead.”
“They were once a powerful tribe, and these are all that are left of them, scarcely a hundred souls. You know they are _Christians_.”
Black Tom did not know that, nor did he know any thing of them, except that such a tribe had once been a power in the West, but he had supposed hitherto that they had vanished from the earth long since.
“They have been Christianized through the efforts of the good Moravian missionaries,” continued Hammond, “and they live a quiet, unobtrusive life among themselves, disturbing nobody, and desirous of being left alone by all who pass through this region.”
“Suppose we drop all reference to her for the present,” was the pleasant reply of his companion; “you are here for the purpose of hunting gold, and I must warn you not to interfere with the Meagans.”
“We won’t hurt them if they let us alone,” was the sturdy reply of the trapper, “but they must keep thar hands off.”
“They won’t be likely to disturb you, although they do not like the presence of any one in these parts.”