After the meal, the dogs were fed and old Joe told the boys that they would stay with Pegic for the night. As both lads were just about tired out, this arrangement suited them down to the ground, and in the glow of Pegic’s fire they lay down and were soon asleep.
Then old Joe began to ask the Indian questions. Indians must be dealt with calmly and above all slowly, and in a roundabout way. Haste or undue curiosity upsets them. To ask an Indian a brief question is in all probability to have it unanswered. Hence old Joe proceeded with caution. The conversation was carried on in Pegic’s dialect, which the old French-Canadian understood perfectly.
First of all he asked the Indian how long he had been camped there.
The Indian nodded gravely, staring into the fire.
“It is even so. Just as you say, my friend.”
“I am teenking dat perhaps he stopped at your tepee. Is dat so?” inquired old Joe, wise in the way of Indians.
“Yes. Many skins and one he showed to me. It was the skin of a black fox. Truly a fine pelt, my brother. You are wise in the ways of trapping, but your eyes would have glittered and your fingers itched had you beheld it.”
Old Joe nodded his satisfaction. Clearly, then, they were on the right trail and the man had the skin with him.
“He did. He was swollen with pride. But to Pegic he looked like a man who is sick.”
“Yes, my brother. His eyes were overbright and his skin was flushed. He was sick.”
“Boosh! He’ll be seecker yet when we find him, myself and de two garçons. Pegic, dose skins were stolen!”
“Yes, Pegic, it is even so. And how long ago was he here?”
“About two hours before the dropping of the sun. I urged him to stay, but he would not. He said he was in much haste, and truly his dogs showed signs of being hard pressed.”
“Bon, so we close up the gap. Boosh! Mon ami, we shall meet before very long. Voila!”
“It was while I was cutting up the deer,” volunteered Pegic, his reserve now thawed by old Joe’s skillful way of leading him on. “I sat on my blanket—so. My dogs barked, and, going to the door of the tepee, I saw this white man coming. He wished food for himself and his dogs. I gave to him, and then he asked the way to the nearest trading post. I told him, and then he inquired for the one even beyond that.”