that Spotted Tail fight, and if they had 

 caught us touching their dead, it might 

 have been unhealthy for us." 



"Why, what would they do?" I 

 asked, suddenly realising what many 

 white men never do that Indians are 

 emotional creatures like ourselves. The 

 brass rings became uncomfortably con- 

 spicuous in my mind. 



" Well, I don't suppose they would 

 dare to kill us so close to the agency, 

 but I don't know ; a mad Injun's a bad 

 Injun." 



Nevertheless, this opinion did not 

 deter him from climbing a tree where 

 three bodies lay side by side in a curi- 

 ous fashion; but I had no more in- 

 terest in 'dead-trees,' and fidgeted. 

 Nimrod had wandered off some dis- 

 tance and was watching a gopher hole- 

 up for the night. The place in the fad- 



