asked Sammy, in much surprise.

"No. But--but my father's gone a long way off." The boy hesitated a moment, and then added: "Gone to Canada--trapping. Won't be back for ever so long. So I live in the cave."

"Oh, my!" murmured Tess.

"Je-ru-sa-_lem_!" exclaimed Sammy. "Ain't you afraid to live here alone?"

"I'm not afraid," said their new friend. "And there's n.o.body to boss you all the time here. Come on. You follow me. Drag along the sled. We might need that after the snow's stopped."

He started to crawl out through the hole into the storm again, and the trio from Red Deer Lodge decided that there was nothing better to do than to follow him.

CHAPTER XXII

IN THE CAVE

The snow beat down upon them so when they were outside of the shelter that the little girls could scarcely get their breath. Dot clung to Tess' hand and bleated a few complaining words. But the strange boy said sharply:

"Don't be blubbering. We'll be all right in a minute. I want to hunt for something around here. That's what I come out of the cave for."

"Am not blubbering!" muttered Dot, quite indignant. "But this old snow--"

"Oh, I've got it!" shouted the strange boy, leaping ahead through the snow with great vigor. "Come on! Don't lose sight of me."

"You bet we won't," said Sammy, urging Tess and Dot on ahead of him and dragging the sled after.

"What is it?" asked Tess, curiously.

"A trap," said the other.

"Oh!"

"What kind of a trap?" asked the eager Sammy.

"Rabbit trap. Box trap. Rafe and I brought it down here with us and set it this morning. I put a handful of corn in it and I saw rabbit tracks all about just before it began to snow so hard. Here it is."

The speaker had knelt down in the snow and was uncovering some long, narrow object with his hands.

"It's sprung, anyway. You see, the door's dropped," he said. "The rabbit pokes right in after the corn, and when he begins to eat the bait clear at the end of the box, he trips the trigger and the door falls. Yes! He's here!"

"Oh, Je-ru-sa-_lem_! A real rabbit?" gasped Sammy Pinkney.

"A poor little bunny?" murmured Tess, her tender heart at once disturbed at the thought of the trapped animal.

"Huh! If we are snowed up in that cave for a week or so," said the boy called Rowdy, "you'll be mighty glad I caught this rabbit."

He had lifted the door and thrust in his left hand to seize the animal.

"Oh! Oh!" squealed Dot. "Won't it bite you?"

"It doesn't bite with its hind legs," said Rowdy with scorn. "Ah! I got him."

He drew forth the rabbit, kicking and squirming. The little mouse-like cry the poor beast made sounded very pitiful to Tess. She murmured:

"Oh, don't hurt him!"

"Je-ru-sa-_lem_!" exclaimed Sammy to Rowdy. "Ain't girls the worst ever?"

"Huh!" said the strange boy, suddenly glaring at Sammy Pinkney, "what do you know about girls?"

He was a dark boy, with ragged black hair that had evidently been sheared off roughly by an amateur barber. He was dressed warmly and in good clothes. He wore leggings that came up to his hips. He was bigger, and must have been older than Sammy.

He stood up now, with the kicking rabbit held by the hind legs. The trapped animal was fat and was of good size.

"Oh! Oh!" cried Dot. "He'll get away from you."

"Like fun he will."

"How are you going to kill him?" Sammy, the practical, asked.

"Break its neck," was the prompt reply.

"Oh! How awful!" gasped Tess. "Won't it hurt him?"

"It won't know anything about it," said Rowdy.

He was already holding the rabbit away from him almost at arm's length and poised his right hand, edge out, for the blow that was to finish the creature. Sharp and quick was the blow, the outer edge of the boy's hand striking across the back of the rabbit's neck just at the base of the brain. The vertebra was snapped in this way and the creature instantly killed--a merciful and sudden death. The rabbit kicked but once, and then was still.

"Oh! Oh!" murmured Tess.

"Oh, don't worry," said Rowdy. "Ike M'Graw showed me how to do that."

"Oh!" cried Dot. "_We_ know Mr. Ike M'Graw--so we do."

"How did you come to know him?" demanded Rowdy, quickly and suspiciously, it seemed. "He isn't at home now."

"Yes, he is," said Sammy. "He was up at Red Deer Lodge last night and he was there again this morning."

"Oh!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Rowdy, standing and holding the rabbit as though the information gave him considerable mental disturbance. "I--I thought he'd gone away for good."

Then he turned suddenly and plunged into the drifting snow. "Come on!"

he exclaimed again. "This snow is drifting awfully."

Sammy drove the little girls ahead of him again. "Aw, go on!" he muttered. "He's all right. He's got some kind of a hide-out."

"I don't believe I like that Rowdy," said Tess softly. "He--he's real cruel. All boys are, I s'pose."