Anything important?" said Jack.

"Yes," Wilmot replied, as he folded up the letter and put it in his pocket. "She says she wants me to come out there and marry her forthwith."

"I don't believe it," said Jack. "That 'ere girl would never write that way."

"Well, then, look at it and see," said Wilmot, handing him the letter.

"I knowed she never said any such thing," said Jack, after reading the letter.

"You can't read it, because it's written in cipher, and a cipher to which no Washington detective would ever find the key."

"I don't believe that thar's any cipher about it."

"You take it over to Mrs. Parkman and ask her if that is not what it means. She understands that kind of a cipher."

Wilmot had no idea of sending the letter to Mrs. Parkman, but Jack rose up and strode out of the office saying, "I'll do it. Hang me if I don't."

After giving Mrs. Parkman all the news, Jack took the letter out of his pocket and handed it to her, saying: "Now, I want you to tell me honestly what that letter means. Wilmot says it means one thing. I say

it don't."

Mrs. Parkman read the letter, and then said, in a somewhat excited manner:

"Mr. Wilmot ought to go right out there and see Jennie. I'll think he's real mean if he don't."

Jack took the letter and went back to Wilmot's office, saying to himself:

"Well, if that don't beat all creation. I didn't believe that was a cipher letter at all.”

in.

"What did she say?" asked Wilmot, as Jack came

"I give it up," said Jack.

"I guess it is a cipher, but I wouldn't have believed it if it hadn't been for Mrs. Parkman. She says you ought to go right straight

out there."

"That's a poser," he said, unfolding the letter and looking at it again. "Who'd ever thought of that innocent-looking letter meaning something else entirely from what it says. All the ciphers I ever saw didn't mean anything when you read them straight along. How did Mrs. Parkman learn to read it?"

"Oh! she learned that a long time ago; before she was married.”

CHAPTER XLVI.

BEYOND CONTROL.

EVERAL long conversations between Wilmot and Jack resulted in an agreement that they would both go out to the reservation on the Arickoree. Jack was to return to Red Iron's camp, Wilmot to go via the fort on the Little Blue, and the two to meet on a day specified at the forks of Turkey Creek.

Jack did not tell Wilmot why he desired to go first to Red Iron's camp, but simply said he must go there. At the appointed time Wilmot rode up on a hill

top, overlooking the place of rendezvous, and was astonished to see a camp of about fifty Indians. He sat in his saddle hesitating about what he had better do, when some one in the camp mounted a horse and came galloping toward him. As he came near, Wilmot saw that it was Jack.

"What does this mean?" said Wilmot. "What are all those Indians doing here?"

"I kalkerlated there might be trouble over here, and in case there was, I wanted a few fellers along with me I could rely on. And then, if Jennie wanted to come back with us, it would be well to have some women along. As I couldn't git any white ones, I've got four or five Indian women. Two of 'em knew Jennie when she was in Red Iron's camp before the war, so I let 'em come with their husbands."

"I haven't any idea that Jennie will come back with us. I am going out there to see her, and have a talk with her father. I think he would come down as far as the fort on the Little Blue."

"Suppose Perkins tries to arrest you?"

"I don't think he'll do that. I'm out of the fight now."

"Well, I think if he does he'll have a warm time of it afore he gits through. I'm going to camp these Injuns right by the side of his house. These agents have a respect for a shooting-iron."

"I don't know but it is a pretty good plan," said Wilmot.

The next morning the party was on the move. It was understood where the camp was to be made that

night, and the Indians scattered off each one to his own fancy. Some of them reached the camping-place by three o'clock in the afternoon, and some did not get in until after dark. They had killed, during the day, three antelopes and several jack rabbits. There was great good humor in the camp that night. They felt like they were free men once more, and they had plenty

to eat.

About nine o'clock three of the young men came riding in. They were the last of the party to arrive. One of them came directly to Jack and handed him a piece of paper. He said, about ten miles above where they were camped, on the same stream, they had come upon the trail of two white men. They had stopped at the crossing but had made no fire. Their horses had been ridden very hard, and were very hungry. Their trail led over toward the Platte.

(I suppose that some persons will think it very strange that Indian could know that those horses had been ridden very hard and were hungry, but it was a very easy thing for him to tell that. The horses were lariated out, had laid down on the grass and rolled, and being covered with sweat had rubbed it off. The tracks showed how long they had been allowed to feed, and the grass that they had not wasted any time standing still.)

But the scrap of paper, that was the greatest mystery, and entirely beyond the reach of Indian lore. It was part of an envelope, and on it was written: "H. L. Perkins, Arickoree Agency." Was this Perkins and some one else? If not, who could it be? It made

Jack feel extremely uneasy. He broke camp early in the morning and gave orders to halt at the mouth of the Red Willow, a very hard day's march.

To understand what follows, it will be necessary to relate what had happened at Perkins's Agency since Jack was there. The delegations to the tribes to the west had returned with a favorable report. A treaty of

friendship had been made, and a league formed to resist the encroachments of the whites. The principal chief at Perkins's Agency was a man named Little Warrior. He was a hereditary chief, and what is rather rare among that class, a man of great natural ability. He did not desire to go to war, if war could be avoided. Between starvation and fighting he would fight without any hesitation. He made this league so that in case of war he would not be perfectly helpless, with an army on one side and a hostile tribe on the other. When the result of the negotiations became known, there was great excitement among all the bands belonging to the agency, and old Hairy Bear was for war immediately. His medicine man prophesied all kinds of evil if they did not go to war, and great victories if they did. Just at this time the rations were worse than ever, and before Little Warrior was aware of the fact, his people were beyond his control.

The Indians around the agency, the hangers-on, the sycophants, became first sullen, and then insolent. The agent's power was broken, and they, as all such men of every race, forsook him for the favor of those who were to soon take control of things.

Perkins saw that there was trouble near at hand,