<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
<div class='chaptertitle'>A VISIT TO OLD LASKA.<br/><br/></div>
<div class='cap'>"JACK, Aunt Sallie will take us over to the
Indian village this afternoon if you wish
to go," Jean said next day.</div>
<p>Jean and Jack thought they were entirely
alone. They did not realize that the
door of the little room next theirs, which
Frieda and the Indian girl occupied, was
open.</p>
<p>"Why should we go to the village, Jean?"
Jack inquired indifferently. She had just
discovered a thrilling novel and she wanted
to be left in peace to read it.</p>
<p>"Because something has to be done about
Olive at once," Jean insisted valiantly. "You
know perfectly well, that it isn't fair for us to
keep her in suspense about what is to become
of her and then maybe turn her off and send
her back to old Laska in the end. We must
find out if there is any chance of her not being
Laska's real child and if not, what right she
has to her. Aunt Sallie says she will keep
Olive here as a maid for Laura if we don't<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</SPAN></span>
want her at the ranch and we can get her
away from the Indians."</p>
<p>"Maid for Laura!" Jack bit her lips indignantly.
Jean kept her face turned away,
so that Jack could not see her expression.
She knew that her cousin was very undecided
about what they ought to do with their
protegée and was anxious to influence Jack
for Olive's sake.</p>
<p>"I don't think that Olilie—I mean Olive—is
very well suited for such a distinguished
position as maid to Miss Laura Post," Jack
replied. "I think if I were the Indian girl I
should prefer to remain with the Indians.
Of course I will go over to the village with you
and Aunt Sallie whenever you like."</p>
<p>Jean put her arm around her cousin.
"You won't be cross about something if I
tell you, will you?" she urged coaxingly.</p>
<p>Jack frowned. "I don't know, Jean Bruce,
what is it now?" she demanded, for she could
guess by the half mischievous, half conciliatory
expression in Jean's brown eyes, that
she had something to confide which would
not be to her liking.</p>
<p>"Aunt Sallie has asked Frank Kent to
drive over to the Indian village with us,"<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</SPAN></span>
Jean returned. "You see he has never seen
an Indian village, and being an Englishman,
Aunt Sallie naturally thought he would be
curious about one. So after all he is going to
help us to find out about Olive, although you
refused to allow him. Funny, isn't it?"</p>
<p>This was a very unwise fashion for Jean
Bruce to have explained the situation to Jack,
for if there was one thing which Miss Jacqueline
Ralston did particularly like, it was to
have her own way. Having said that she
desired no assistance from their new acquaintance
in their efforts for Olilie, she was not
going to be forced into accepting it against
her will.</p>
<p>Jack quietly removed her big Mexican hat,
sat down comfortably in her chair 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 least
necessary. You and Aunt Sallie and Mr.
Kent can make all the investigations and
decide what is best to do without any interference
from me."</p>
<p>Jack arched her level brows, dilated her
nostrils and half closed her eyes. Jean knew
that particular obstinate expression of her<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</SPAN></span>
cousin's and said nothing more for a few
moments, but put on her own coat and hat
and 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?"</p>
<p>Jack's grey eyes grew steely. "Oh, do go
on, Jean dear," she urged politely. "Tell me
any other nice things you know about me;
one always is appreciated by one's relatives."</p>
<p>Jean flushed. "Don't be so hateful, Jack,"
she pleaded. "Can't you see that it is selfish
of you to refuse to go with us to try to
find out about Olilie? You brought her home
to the ranch, and you know you will be able
to stand up for her and find out more about
her than either Aunt Sallie or I can. Aunt
Sallie means well, but goodness knows she
isn't tactful. And you know you are obstinate
to stay at home simply because Frank
Kent is to go with us. Aunt Sallie did not
know what you had said to him, and simply
wanted to show him one of our modern Indian
settlements. It is one of the things he came
West to see."</p>
<p>"Oh, I don't blame Aunt Sallie," Jack<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</SPAN></span>
replied, slightly appeased by Jean's half-hearted
apology.</p>
<p>"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 Sallie that he did not think he
would care to go with us and behaved so
queer and stiffish that she was offended with
him. I knew he was thinking about what you
had said, so I just marched up to him and
told him that if he had refused Mrs. Simpson's
invitation because he thought you would not
wish him to come along with us, he was entirely
mistaken. You see I thought you would
not want him to give up the pleasure of the
trip, just on your account. He is a guest
here with us and I can see no sense in your
being so uppish. It is perfectly foolish, Jack."
This time Jean opened the door. "Jacqueline
Ralston, c-h-u-m-p spells chump. It is
exactly what you are."</p>
<p>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 come along."</p>
<p>Jean gave Jack a hug as they went out of
the room together, which was intended to<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</SPAN></span>
convey the idea that, though what she
had just said to her cousin was perfectly
true, she was sorry to have been obliged to
say it.</p>
<p>Jack had another shock as she was about
to get into the Simpson motor car. Seated
on the comfortable rear seat and engaged in
airy conversation were Dan Norton and
Laura Post with Mrs. Simpson beside them.
Jean and Jean's special friend, Harry <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Pryer'">Pryor</ins>
occupied the centre chairs. So Jack and
Frank Kent, as the car only held seven
people, were compelled to crowd in front with
the chauffeur.</p>
<p>"You are sure you don't mind my going
over with you," said Frank Kent in an
apologetic tone and turning a deep red. "I
can just as easily stay at the ranch, if you
prefer it."</p>
<p>No girl could be proof against such good
manners as Frank Kent's, certainly not
Jacqueline Ralston.</p>
<p>The Indian village was not so very far from
the Simpson ranch, in the way that Western
people count distances. Pretty soon the
automobile party saw circles of smoke arising
in the air. On a rounded green slope of the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</SPAN></span>
prairie near a little river was a collection of
wigwams and huts.</p>
<p>"I am jolly glad some of the Indians still
live in tepees." Frank confided to Jack. "I
was dreadfully afraid that your up-to-date,
government-cared-for 'Injun,' was going to
be just like everybody else and wear store
clothes and live in a regular American house,
and then what could I have to tell my people
when I go back home to England?"</p>
<p>Frank was staring ahead of him and for the
first time since his first meeting with Jack, he
had entirely gotten over his British shyness.</p>
<p>"Don't you worry," Jack answered gaily.
"I am awfully glad you have come with us.
Now you'll see the real thing! Of course,
some of our Indians have been educated and
civilized, but I am sure many of them are just
the same in their hearts as they used to be,
and would lead the same kind of lives if they
had a chance. I can tell you they try to get
their revenge, if you make them angry!"</p>
<p>There were a number of lean horses grazing
near the village. The streets were dreadfully
dirty and overflowing with thin, brown children
rolling in the sand and playing with
wolfish, half-fed dogs. In front of the rude<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</SPAN></span>
huts or the cone-shaped tents with sheafs of
poles extending through their tops, were big
Indian men, as solemn, silent and terrifying
as though they had been Indian war chiefs
meditating on some terrible massacre. Most
of them wore fringed leather trousers and had
bright blankets wrapped about them. They
were calmly smoking, and only barely turned
their narrow eyes to glance at the automobile,
as it passed by them.</p>
<p>Near most of the dwellings were outdoor
fires, with pots boiling above them, as few of
the Indians can make up their minds to use
kitchen stoves instead of their familiar campfires.
Old women sat near the fires, stringing
bright beads, or weaving mats. Some of
them were making Indian blankets on rude
frames of logs, set upright some feet apart,
and strung with cords, like an old-fashioned
wooden loom.</p>
<p>The chauffeur slowed down and the girls and
boys could see that the Indians were talking
about their party, making queer sounds and
signs to one another. The women rushed out
with trinkets to sell, the children sat cross-legged
in the dirt, the dogs barked and young
women with babies on their backs crept out<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</SPAN></span>
of their doors. But among the whole number,
there was no sign of Laska or Josef.</p>
<p>Laura bought quantities of Indian bead-work
and pottery. She would not let her
Aunt inquire for the Indian girl's people until
she had seen everything there was to be seen.
Frank timidly offered Jack a string of blue
beads, when he saw that Jean had accepted a
small gift from Harry Pryor, and Jack received
them very graciously, wishing to show that she
no longer resented Frank's having made the
trip.</p>
<p>"Can you tell me where to find the home
of Laska?" Mrs. Simpson inquired of an
Indian girl, who looked more intelligent than
the others and spoke very good English.</p>
<p>The girl shook her head. "Don't know," she
replied stupidly. Mrs. Simpson asked half a
dozen other people. Some of them spoke, others
only grunted dully. "Crow's Nest," Laska's
hut, had apparently never been heard of.</p>
<p>"Let's don't waste time asking questions,
Aunt Sallie," Jack called back. "The Indians
won't tell you about each other unless they
know what you want. Let's drive straight to
the school; Olilie's teacher can best tell us
what to do."<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>In the midst of the Indian village were
three well-built houses, the trading store, a
small church and the school. Mrs. Simpson
and Jack went into the schoolhouse together
and were gone for half an hour. When they
came out, Jack's face was crimson with excitement
and Mrs. Simpson looked deeply
interested. She entered the car after telling
her chauffeur exactly how to find old Laska's
hut, but neither she nor Jack gave any account
to the others of what the teacher at the Indian
school had told them of Olilie.</p>
<p>Jean could not bear it. She gave Jack a
little shake. "What are you so mysterious
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."</p>
<p>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 that Laska gets
money each month for taking care of Olilie
and that is why she does not wish to give her
up. No one knows who sends her the money
nor where it comes from, Mrs. Merton says.
But maybe if we tell Laska that she can keep<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</SPAN></span>
this money if she lets us have Olilie, she will
give her up to us. Mrs. Merton has tried to
get Olilie away from Laska herself and to find
out more about her, but she has never learned
the least little thing."</p>
<p>Laska's hut was better than many of the
other Indian houses, being made of timber
plastered with mud and with a dirt roof. The
door was half open, but it was impossible to
tell whether any one inside saw the approach
of the automobile.</p>
<p>Jack and Jean ran up the path ahead,
without waiting for Mrs. Simpson and 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 went on without thinking of danger.
She only half heard Jean's cry of warning as
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
sharp teeth on a level with her throat. She
had lived all her life among the wild animals
of the prairies and of the ranch, and knew that
if, in a second of danger, she flinched or showed
cowardice, she was lost. How she was able
to stand perfectly still for that second she did<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</SPAN></span>
not know, for a moment later, she gasped and
turned white as a sheet, but Jean and Mrs.
Simpson caught her. Frank Kent had managed
in some remarkable fashion to get in
front of Jack and strike down the huge brute
with his stick. A few minutes later Laska
came to the door of her hut. She had seen
Jean and Jack approaching alone and had
not known what friends they had with
them.</p>
<p>A long and useless conversation followed.
Laska would give no satisfaction about Olilie,
insisting that the girl was her child, that she
knew nothing of any money that came for
her care. Josef was away, but they both
wanted the girl to return home.</p>
<p>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 come back to you. Any one could
look at you both and see that she is not your
own child, and if you try to get her away from
us or to molest her in any way, I shall make
it my business to find out who sends you
money for her and you shall have neither
the money nor the girl."</p>
<p>Laska made no further objection, but<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</SPAN></span>
neither Jean, nor Jack, nor Frank Kent liked
the expression of her face, as she watched
them leave her cabin. She made a sign of
some kind in the air and mumbled a curious
Indian incantation that had a menacing
sound.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</SPAN></span></p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />