"Won't it be fine," said Letty one holiday morning, "for you to have all this money! You won't have to work any longer at Dr. Payson's, will you?"

But Mary Lee laughed.

"Of course, I'll not give up my work," she a.s.serted. "I'm learning lots. Furthermore, I want to become a nurse and Dr. Payson agrees that it is the best kind of training to begin as I have."

"But don't you find it awfully hard to give up your afternoons--in fact, all your time, to work and study?" asked the less serious-minded girl.

"Letty, dear, I do get so much fun out of my work at Dr. Payson's.

It's delightful--and wouldn't you call it recreation to be able to do the things our Red Cross Group is doing? It is such a wonderful opportunity."

"I suppose it is," the other girl answered uncertainly. "h.e.l.lo, there's the mail man," she added as from the window she saw him turn in at their house. "I wonder if he has any mail for you and me?"

Almost at the same moment Ruth was ushered into the room. She saw Letty go through the mail and pick out two letters. One, Letty gave to Mary Lee, the other, she quickly opened.

"Well!" Letty exclaimed after reading her letter, "it certainly is time."

"Won't we be glad to see her?" added Mary Lee, as she finished her letter.

Ruth was all excitement. "Is Aunt Madge coming home?" she asked eagerly.

"Mrs. Anderson, if you please, young lady," Letty answered reprovingly.

"Wonder if I have a letter home, too," commented Ruth.

"I suppose you have, dear," replied Mary Lee a.s.suringly.

"I have news for you, Ruth. May I tell her, Mary Lee?"

The girl nodded her a.s.sent. These two girls were her best friends. She knew how glad Ruth would be because of her good fortune.

Letty told Ruth about the money that Jim Lee had turned over for Mary Lee's use. Ruth's eyes opened with wonder and pleasure.

"Isn't that fine! I'm so glad, Mary Lee, dear."

"When does Jim Lee join the army?" she asked.

"I guess the day after tomorrow. He's coming here tonight."

"I wonder if we cannot get him to tell us an Indian story when he comes," remarked Letty.

"He may," Mary Lee replied. "Will you come over tonight, Ruth?" she asked.

"Yes, come to dinner," added Letty.

Ruth agreed.

"When does Mrs. Anderson come home, Mary Lee?" she asked as she started to go.

"Next Sat.u.r.day afternoon. Isn't that fine, for I am free on that afternoon and can go with you and meet her," was the reply. "Bob is coming home with them, too."

"I didn't know he was with them," Ruth said in surprise.

"Yes, he's been there for a week. It is but a short distance from his school, so he went over."

"Be sure to come tonight," Letty reminded the departing girl. "We'll hear a good story if Mr. Lee will tell it."

"I won't forget," replied Ruth.

CHAPTER XVI

A MASTER STORY TELLER

Jim Lee and Tom Marshall were prompt in their expected call, and they found Mary Lee and Letty as well as Ruth waiting to receive them.

It was the kind of an evening that is usually a.s.sociated with the month of March. The rain was coming down in a steady downpour, there was a chill to the wind; altogether it was a night in which folks welcomed the warmth of an open grate fire.

Letty, all excitement, brought up the subject of a story--a story such as only Jim Lee could tell--of the Indian of long ago.

"I'm afraid," remarked the Indian, "that the kind of stories I used to tell Mary Lee would be considered entirely too youthful by you young ladies."

"But we'd like to hear one, I'm sure we would," replied Ruth.

"Yes, Jim do tell us one. I know we will enjoy it."

"Very well," was the answer. "I see there's no escape and so I had better make the best of it.

"Long, long ago, in the land you now know as Colorado, there lived a strong tribe--the Wah-hi-tis--well known for their ability in war.

Their name was used by the squaws of the other tribes to frighten the little papooses who were wont to whimper.

"When I say it was long, long ago, I do not mean a hundred, or two hundred, or five hundred years ago. I speak of thousands of years before the white man came from across the big waters--the white man who has forced out, who has swallowed up the Indian so that we are becoming like the buffalo, a rarity.

"There came a chief, Black Eagle, descendant from many chiefs. He was wise and great and his strength was like that of the buffalo and his swiftness like that of the eagle. With an iron hand he ruled, but he was ever kind and considerate except when anger or rage overcame him.

Then none was more cruel, more terrible.

"Wise men of many tribes came to visit him and it is said that great gifts were sent to him from the distant lands of Mexico; even from the small seas, they sent him offerings, for it was known that his friendship was a blessing and his enmity a thing of which to be wary.

"Proud were the young bucks who served under Black Eagle. In their sojourns they had but to exclaim with fine disdain, 'I am a Wah-hi-ti!' and they were immediately offered hospitality and friendship.

"Black Eagle had two wives. Swift Bear, his father, had mated him to Swift Water, daughter of a neighboring chief. But then came Laughing Eyes, young and beautiful, and her--Black Eagle loved at sight. And since it was permitted that chiefs have more than one mate, Black Eagle took Laughing Eyes unto himself.

"Swift Water, his first wife, felt the black rage of hate and envy--and who could blame her? But Black Eagle had already given proof of his terrible outbursts of wrath and she dared not object.

She suffered silently.

"Thus, many years pa.s.sed. Swift Water gave Black Eagle a son, but only after Laughing Eyes had given birth to a beautiful babe, also a son, who had been named Natawara. Swift Water's son was named Black Fox.