Ted Strong in Montana Part 57

Nothing was said about the unpleasant interview on the colonel's veranda the evening before, but Stella laughingly told how she had decided at the last moment to follow the fortunes of the boys, and had dragged her aunt off to Montana without giving her time to think about it.

While they were chatting the colonel rode up.

"Mr. Strong, I wish you would come up to headquarters and get your voucher for these cattle before you go. I should like you to dine with us, also."

"Please do, Ted," said Stella. "Then you can ride back to camp with aunt and I. I have been trying to persuade Hallie to join our party for a week or two, and experience the joys and excitement of the cattle trail."

"I should like very much to go with you, but----"

Miss Croffut looked at her father with some apprehension.

"If Mrs. Graham will consent to add to her burdens as a chaperon I have no objections," said the colonel whose manner toward Ted had been simply reversed by the independence and manliness the broncho boys had exhibited.

"We should be very glad to have you with us, Miss Croffut," said Ted.

"And if you have never been on the long drive I believe you would find much that would interest you."

"Then it's all settled," cried Stella. "I'm sure aunt would be delighted to have you, and you will like the boys. They are like a lot of brothers to me, only they are better than most brothers, for they let me do what I please, and are a help instead of a nuisance."

They all laughed at Stella's estimate of the usefulness of brothers, and rode away toward the fort, Ted leading the way with Miss Croffut, whom he found to be an exceedingly interesting companion, and who expressed her love for riding and other outdoor sports.

"We're going to see the beef issue," Stella called to Ted.

"All right," he answered. "It will be some time before the cattle are up to the pens, and, in the meantime, we'll leave you there, and ride over to headquarters and settle the business end of it."

The girls were left at the office of the Indian agent near the place where the cattle were to be issued to the Indians.

Scattered over the prairie near the agent's office were the members of the tribe, waiting patiently for their portion of the fresh meat, which, at certain times of the year, Uncle Sam doled out to them.

It was a savage sight. Here and there were the smoke-browned tepees of the Indians, before which sat the squaws and papooses, and the old men and women.

The bucks, heads of families, strode back and forth majestically, with their rifles and old muskets in the hollow of their arms, while the young men and half-grown boys dashed here and there on their ponies.

It was an animated scene, and the two girls looked at it curiously, for neither of them had seen anything like it before.

While they were looking out of the window a shadow darkened the doorway, and they looked up to see a tall young buck Indian standing on the threshold.

He was very tall for a Northern Indian, and his broad, bronze-colored face, with its high cheek bones, and prominent, aquiline nose, with the black, beady eyes between, and the wide, loose-lipped mouth beneath, caused Miss Croffut to shudder unknowingly.

To her there was something repulsive about the fellow. But Stella looked at him boldly and inquiringly.

"How?" grunted the Indian.

"What you want?" asked Stella, in a business-like way.

"Me want agent," he answered, with a leer, which evidently he intended for a smile of fascination.

"Not here," said Stella sharply.

"Where go?"

"Get out."

The Indian stared at her with an expression of amazement, which gradually turned to one of admiration.

"Heap good-looking squaw," he grunted.

"Get out," said Stella again.

She was not frightened, only disgusted.

"Me Running Bear. Heap big chief. Heap rich. Heap brave. Running Bear want white squaw. Heap other wives cook for white squaw. Make plenty red dress."

When the Indian had first entered the room Stella thought that there was something decidedly familiar about the redskin, but when the name "Running Bear" fell from his lips, her worst fears were confirmed--this was the Indian with whom Ted had had trouble during the winter, when he had broken up the Whipple gang.

As he strode into the middle of the room, with his hand on the b.u.t.t of the revolver that hung on his left hip, Miss Croffut uttered a faint scream.

Stella was not exactly frightened, but she felt that there might be some danger in being in the room with this Indian brute, with not a white man in hailing distance.

When he got nearer she smelled liquor. Running Bear had been drinking, and Stella knew that a drinking Indian is a crazy Indian who will do things he never would dream of doing when he is sober.

She unconsciously felt for her own revolver, but it was not at her side.

Then she remembered that she had left it at the colonel's house when she had started out that morning.

She eyed the Indian closely as he advanced farther into the room, and saw that in the Indian's eyes there was a strange gleam. He reminded her of a snake about to devour its prey, as he moved toward her, almost imperceptibly, seeming not to move, and yet getting closer to her all the time.

Now he was quite close to her, and Hallie Croffut was sitting back in her chair gazing at the Indian with an expression of frozen horror on her face.

"White squaw give Running Bear a kiss," gurgled the brute.

Stella tried to scream, but her throat refused to give forth a sound. It was like the nightmare when one tries to scream for terror of the awful shape that is about to menace, but cannot utter a sound.

Somewhere outside she heard her name. It was Ted calling to her, but she could not answer.

Now the Indian was only a step away, and had reached out his arms to grasp her.

Suddenly the door flew open, and there stood Ted Strong. But only for an instant.

With one leap he was into the room, and as the Indian turned, with that beastly leer still on his face, Ted was upon him.

Catching the Indian by the collar, he swung him around, while at the same time his left arm flew forward, and his fist struck the Indian's jaw with a smash that sent his head back, and wrung a groan from him.

Again and again the fist encountered the Indian's face, rocking his head horribly, until it hung upon his shoulder, and then, with an exclamation of disgust, Ted flung the brute from him, and the inert body rolled into a corner, where it lay still.

"Oh, Ted," exclaimed Stella, "that Indian is Running Bear, with whom you had trouble when putting the Whipple gang out of business."

"I know it, but I don't think he'll bother us any more. Come, girls,"

said Ted, "it's time to go out and see the beef issue. They're reading the names now, and the bucks are a.s.sembling."

Outside a strange scene was being enacted. A clerk from the Indian agent's office was sitting on top of the fence of the cattle corral reading the names of the Indians from a large book.