CHAPTER VII.
A VISIT TO OLD LASKA.
"JACK, Aunt Sallie will take us over to the Indian village thisafternoon if you wish to go," Jean said next day.
Jean and Jack thought they were entirely alone. They did not realizethat the door of the little room next theirs, which Frieda and theIndian girl occupied, was open.
"Why should we go to the village, Jean?" Jack inquired indifferently.She had just discovered a thrilling novel and she wanted to be left inpeace to read it.
"Because something has to be done about Olive at once," Jean insistedvaliantly. "You know perfectly well, that it isn't fair for us to keepher in suspense about what is to become of her and then maybe turn heroff and send her back to old Laska in the end. We must find out if thereis any chance of her not being Laska's real child and if not, what rightshe has to her. Aunt Sallie says she will keep Olive here as a maid forLaura if we don't want her at the ranch and we can get her away fromthe Indians."
"Maid for Laura!" Jack bit her lips indignantly. Jean kept her faceturned away, so that Jack could not see her expression. She knew thather cousin was very undecided about what they ought to do with theirprotegee and was anxious to influence Jack for Olive's sake.
"I don't think that Olilie--I mean Olive--is very well suited for such adistinguished position as maid to Miss Laura Post," Jack replied. "Ithink if I were the Indian girl I should prefer to remain with theIndians. Of course I will go over to the village with you and AuntSallie whenever you like."
Jean put her arm around her cousin. "You won't be cross about somethingif I tell you, will you?" she urged coaxingly.
Jack frowned. "I don't know, Jean Bruce, what is it now?" she demanded,for she could guess by the half mischievous, half conciliatoryexpression in Jean's brown eyes, that she had something to confide whichwould not be to her liking.
"Aunt Sallie has asked Frank Kent to drive over to the Indian villagewith us," Jean returned. "You see he has never seen an Indian village,and being an Englishman, Aunt Sallie naturally thought he would becurious about one. So after all he is going to help us to find out aboutOlive, although you refused to allow him. Funny, isn't it?"
This was a very unwise fashion for Jean Bruce to have explained thesituation to Jack, for if there was one thing which Miss JacquelineRalston did particularly like, it was to have her own way. Having saidthat she desired no assistance from their new acquaintance in theirefforts for Olilie, she was not going to be forced into accepting itagainst her will.
Jack quietly removed her big Mexican hat, sat down comfortably in herchair and reopened her book. "Oh, very well," she remarked carelessly."Then I won't go with you at all. My presence won't be in the leastnecessary. You and Aunt Sallie and Mr. Kent can make all theinvestigations and decide what is best to do without any interferencefrom me."
Jack arched her level brows, dilated her nostrils and half closed hereyes. Jean knew that particular obstinate expression of her cousin'sand said nothing more for a few moments, but put on her own coat and hatand started to leave the room. At the door she turned to her cousin."Jacqueline Ralston," she inquired coolly, "has it ever occurred to you,that you are a very hard-headed and selfish person?"
Jack's grey eyes grew steely. "Oh, do go on, Jean dear," she urgedpolitely. "Tell me any other nice things you know about me; one alwaysis appreciated by one's relatives."
Jean flushed. "Don't be so hateful, Jack," she pleaded. "Can't you seethat it is selfish of you to refuse to go with us to try to find outabout Olilie? You brought her home to the ranch, and you know you willbe able to stand up for her and find out more about her than either AuntSallie or I can. Aunt Sallie means well, but goodness knows she isn'ttactful. And you know you are obstinate to stay at home simply becauseFrank Kent is to go with us. Aunt Sallie did not know what you had saidto him, and simply wanted to show him one of our modern Indiansettlements. It is one of the things he came West to see."
"Oh, I don't blame Aunt Sallie," Jack replied, slightly appeased byJean's half-hearted apology.
"Well, you needn't blame Frank Kent, either," Jean retorted quickly."You can put every bit of the blame on me. Frank Kent told Aunt Salliethat he did not think he would care to go with us and behaved so queerand stiffish that she was offended with him. I knew he was thinkingabout what you had said, so I just marched up to him and told him thatif he had refused Mrs. Simpson's invitation because he thought you wouldnot wish him to come along with us, he was entirely mistaken. You see Ithought you would not want him to give up the pleasure of the trip, juston your account. He is a guest here with us and I can see no sense inyour being so uppish. It is perfectly foolish, Jack." This time Jeanopened the door. "Jacqueline Ralston, c-h-u-m-p spells chump. It isexactly what you are."
Jack's bad tempers had a way of ending abruptly. "Wait a minute, please,Jean," she called persuasively, "I expect you are right. I will comealong."
Jean gave Jack a hug as they went out of the room together, which wasintended to convey the idea that, though what she had just said to hercousin was perfectly true, she was sorry to have been obliged to say it.
Jack had another shock as she was about to get into the Simpson motorcar. Seated on the comfortable rear seat and engaged in airyconversation were Dan Norton and Laura Post with Mrs. Simpson besidethem. Jean and Jean's special friend, Harry Pryor occupied the centrechairs. So Jack and Frank Kent, as the car only held seven people, werecompelled to crowd in front with the chauffeur.
"You are sure you don't mind my going over with you," said Frank Kent inan apologetic tone and turning a deep red. "I can just as easily stay atthe ranch, if you prefer it."
No girl could be proof against such good manners as Frank Kent's,certainly not Jacqueline Ralston.
The Indian village was not so very far from the Simpson ranch, in theway that Western people count distances. Pretty soon the automobileparty saw circles of smoke arising in the air. On a rounded green slopeof the prairie near a little river was a collection of wigwams andhuts.
"I am jolly glad some of the Indians still live in tepees." Frankconfided to Jack. "I was dreadfully afraid that your up-to-date,government-cared-for 'Injun,' was going to be just like everybody elseand wear store clothes and live in a regular American house, and thenwhat could I have to tell my people when I go back home to England?"
Frank was staring ahead of him and for the first time since his firstmeeting with Jack, he had entirely gotten over his British shyness.
"Don't you worry," Jack answered gaily. "I am awfully glad you have comewith us. Now you'll see the real thing! Of course, some of our Indianshave been educated and civilized, but I am sure many of them are justthe same in their hearts as they used to be, and would lead the samekind of lives if they had a chance. I can tell you they try to get theirrevenge, if you make them angry!"
There were a number of lean horses grazing near the village. The streetswere dreadfully dirty and overflowing with thin, brown children rollingin the sand and playing with wolfish, half-fed dogs. In front of therude huts or the cone-shaped tents with sheafs of poles extendingthrough their tops, were big Indian men, as solemn, silent andterrifying as though they had been Indian war chiefs meditating on someterrible massacre. Most of them wore fringed leather trousers and hadbright blankets wrapped about them. They were calmly smoking, and onlybarely turned their narrow eyes to glance at the automobile, as itpassed by them.
Near most of the dwellings were outdoor fires, with pots boiling abovethem, as few of the Indians can make up their minds to use kitchenstoves instead of their familiar campfires. Old women sat near thefires, stringing bright beads, or weaving mats. Some of them were makingIndian blankets on rude frames of logs, set upright some feet apart, andstrung with cords, like an old-fashioned wooden loom.
The chauffeur slowed down and the girls and boys could see that theIndians were talking about their party, making queer sounds and signs toone another. The women rushed out with trinkets to sell, the childrensat cross-legged in the dirt, the do
gs barked and young women withbabies on their backs crept out of their doors. But among the wholenumber, there was no sign of Laska or Josef.
Laura bought quantities of Indian bead-work and pottery. She would notlet her Aunt inquire for the Indian girl's people until she had seeneverything there was to be seen. Frank timidly offered Jack a string ofblue beads, when he saw that Jean had accepted a small gift from HarryPryor, and Jack received them very graciously, wishing to show that sheno longer resented Frank's having made the trip.
"Can you tell me where to find the home of Laska?" Mrs. Simpson inquiredof an Indian girl, who looked more intelligent than the others and spokevery good English.
The girl shook her head. "Don't know," she replied stupidly. Mrs.Simpson asked half a dozen other people. Some of them spoke, others onlygrunted dully. "Crow's Nest," Laska's hut, had apparently never beenheard of.
"Let's don't waste time asking questions, Aunt Sallie," Jack calledback. "The Indians won't tell you about each other unless they know whatyou want. Let's drive straight to the school; Olilie's teacher can besttell us what to do."
In the midst of the Indian village were three well-built houses, thetrading store, a small church and the school. Mrs. Simpson and Jack wentinto the schoolhouse together and were gone for half an hour. When theycame out, Jack's face was crimson with excitement and Mrs. Simpsonlooked deeply interested. She entered the car after telling herchauffeur exactly how to find old Laska's hut, but neither she nor Jackgave any account to the others of what the teacher at the Indian schoolhad told them of Olilie.
Jean could not bear it. She gave Jack a little shake. "What are you somysterious about?" she questioned softly. "Olilie is not Laska's child,is she? You have found out something about her and you don't dare tell."
Jack hesitated. "It is queerer than we thought," she confessed. "Mrs.Merton, Olilie's teacher, does not think that Olilie is Laska's child,but she has no way of proving it. The funny thing is, she says thatLaska gets money each month for taking care of Olilie and that is whyshe does not wish to give her up. No one knows who sends her the moneynor where it comes from, Mrs. Merton says. But maybe if we tell Laskathat she can keep this money if she lets us have Olilie, she will giveher up to us. Mrs. Merton has tried to get Olilie away from Laskaherself and to find out more about her, but she has never learned theleast little thing."
Laska's hut was better than many of the other Indian houses, being madeof timber plastered with mud and with a dirt roof. The door was halfopen, but it was impossible to tell whether any one inside saw theapproach of the automobile.
Jack and Jean ran up the path ahead, without waiting for Mrs. Simpsonand were almost at Laska's door when a low, savage growl stopped them.Jean stepped back a moment and clutched at Jack's skirts, but Jack wenton without thinking of danger. She only half heard Jean's cry of warningas she lifted her hand to knock on the door. In that second a great,grey figure sprang up in front of her and Jack saw two rows of sharpteeth on a level with her throat. She had lived all her life among thewild animals of the prairies and of the ranch, and knew that if, in asecond of danger, she flinched or showed cowardice, she was lost. Howshe was able to stand perfectly still for that second she did not know,for a moment later, she gasped and turned white as a sheet, but Jean andMrs. Simpson caught her. Frank Kent had managed in some remarkablefashion to get in front of Jack and strike down the huge brute with hisstick. A few minutes later Laska came to the door of her hut. She hadseen Jean and Jack approaching alone and had not known what friends theyhad with them.
A long and useless conversation followed. Laska would give nosatisfaction about Olilie, insisting that the girl was her child, thatshe knew nothing of any money that came for her care. Josef was away,but they both wanted the girl to return home.
Mrs. Simpson grew weary of argument and pleading. "Look here, Laska,"she said at last, "we are not going to allow the Indian girl to comeback to you. Any one could look at you both and see that she is not yourown child, and if you try to get her away from us or to molest her inany way, I shall make it my business to find out who sends you money forher and you shall have neither the money nor the girl."
Laska made no further objection, but neither Jean, nor Jack, nor FrankKent liked the expression of her face, as she watched them leave hercabin. She made a sign of some kind in the air and mumbled a curiousIndian incantation that had a menacing sound.