For the space of a minute or two Strong Deer could not tear himself away from the long shed. The chances were that more of the mink would die. Maybe all of them! And he was responsible as surely as though he had shot them. It was his fault!

At last he pivoted and shuffled back towards the freezer building that also housed the grinder and mixer. He dare not finish the feeding. Not when he had already done so much damage.

Albert and Edna might be coming back that afternoon, and he would have to tell them what he had done. He didn't know what they might do to him. He half hoped they would beat him and take his wages as part of the money that he had cost them. He thought it would make him feel a little better if they did. Old Rabbit Skin would have done as much-or worse. He would also probably have put a curse on him that would follow him for two or three years, making him pay double or triple the cost of his carelessness.

The Indian boy was at the door to the mixing and grinding shed when thunder grumbled ominously in the distance. His head came up and he stared at the sullen skies and the treetops that were beginning to whip in the freshening wind.

The thunder spirit was laughing at him, telling him that it had caused the mink to escape from its cage the day before. It had made him forget Albert's warning about letting the feed sour. The spirits were punishing him for the terrible thing he had done by taking a gift that belonged to one of them.

He must have made them even more angry by listening to Cunning Fox and his wife read the Bible and by thinking about the things they told him. There was no use in his even trying to get a spirit helper. The spirits would never appear to him, no matter how often he tried to call them or what he promised to give them.

He had caused Albert's mink to get sick and die. And, his mother would die, too. It would all be his fault!

He made his way down to the dock where he could stare out across the heavy, pounding seas that laced the great lake with foam. Far in the distance he could see a dark speck on the wild, tossing water. Albert and Edna! His pulse pounded as savagely as the huge waves. It had to be them. No tourist boat would venture out in such a wind. The guides would not allow them out of the sheltered bay behind Big Island.

He went into the house and got the binoculars, but he really didn't need them. The wallowing boat was headed straight for their little island. Panic gripped him! He couldn't stay there and face them!

Strong Deer went down to the water's edge and stared across the open lake at Big Island. It was a mile or more away and the waves were high, but he could swim ft if he had to. Once there he could make his way down the sprawling, hilly chunk of land to the bay where the tourists would be fishing. He'd hail a boat and get them to take him back to the camp where they were staying. Maybe he could even get a job there filleting fish or cleaning boats or cutting firewood and running errands. He'd get away from Albert and Edna Cunning Fox so he couldn't cause them more trouble. But he wasn't too sure that he wanted to get out in that cold, raging water.

As the boat wearily wrenched its way over the deep seas he saw that it was the mink rancher and his wife. In a few minutes they would know! Fearfully he melted into the bush.

Cunning Fox, sitting in the bow of the large flat-bottomed boat, looped a length of anchor line over a dock post and snubbed it. Edna did the same at the stern.

"That was a rough crossing," the mink rancher sighed.

She nodded, searching the cleared area for the Indian boy. "I hope Strong Deer lifted the nets early, before the wind got UP."

"I warned him about going out on the lake when it was rough." Albert got out of the boat stiffly. "We don't have to worry about his taking care of himself. He's a good boy."

"I thought maybe he would be down to meet us."

"He's around the island somewhere," the mink rancher said. "He probably didn't expect us back so soon." Nevertheless he went over to the place where the fishing boat was kept. "The boat's here." She breathed a prayer of thankfulness.

In the house they noticed the open Bible on the table. Edna picked it up. "Look, he's been reading."

"I thought he was beginning to get interested," Cunning Fox said. "God is working in his heart."

"I wish you'd find him, Albert," his wife said presently. -'It bothers me that he hasn't showed up yet. He surely saw us or heard our motor."

"Maybe." He went to the door and called loudly. "Strong Deer!" There was no answer.

Curiously, he started for the mink pens. Halfway there he stopped and called to the Indian boy again. Edna was right: It was strange that Strong Deer did not respond. The island wasn't all that big. He couldn't imagine the boy going very far away. He had never done so before except when he was so upset about his mother. "Strong Deer! Where are you?" When there was no answer he moved down to the mink shed. He saw that the big male in the first pen was dead. Thoughtfully he opened the cage and picked up the lifeless form.

Meanwhile the Indian boy crouched behind the raspberry bushes at the edge of the clearing, trembling as he watched. Albert knew about the mink now. It wouldn't be long before he came looking for him with fire in his eyes.

Strong Deer couldn't face Cunning Fox. Whatever happened, he had to get off the island! Strong Deer inched backwards until he was well screened by the forest. Then he made his way as stealthily as a hunter tracking moose. At the water's edge he stopped.

"Strong Deer!" He heard Albert calling for him. "Come here!"

The place where he went down to the lake was unprotected from the wind, and the waves slammed noisily into the rocks. Spray soaked his jeans to the knees and wet his lean young face.

"Strong Deer!" Albert was coming in his direction. In a minute or two he would find him unless he did something that instant.

The lake was rougher than he had ever swam in before, but he couldn't let that stop him. Kicking off his moccasins and peeling down to his shorts, he ran into the wild surf. The massive, booming waves drove frigidly into his lithe body, all but squeezing the breath from his lungs. The sudden cold froze his muscles and a great chill seized him, but he refused to consider it. Half a dozen running steps and he were in deep enough for swimming. He fought desperately against the fierce waves, moving forward foot by painful foot.

As the boy suspected, it wasn't long until Cunning Fox appeared at the place where he had shed his clothes. "Strong He stared down at the clothes and then up at the lake, realizing instantly what had taken place. He saw the tiny figure struggling against the waves some three or four hundred yards from shore. The boy was trying to swim to Big Island so he wouldn't have to face them! But he couldn't make it! Not in such a storm!

Albert ran desperately back to his cabin. "Quick, Edna!" he shouted. "We've got to go out after Strong Deer!"

She saw the terror in her husband's eyes and ran with him down to the dock without question. There would be time later to find out what had happened. Now they had to act!

There was only a little gas in the boat, but there wasn't time to fill the tank. They loosed the big, unwieldy craft and hurriedly poled it into deep water. One jerk of the cord and the big kicker leaped to life with a throaty roar.

By the time they reached the little figure valiantly fighting the waves, Strong Deer was almost exhausted. His arms were coming out of the water and reaching forward with great effort, and his kick was slowing dangerously. Edna pulled the boat up next to him and shut off the engine. The big craft broached and shipped water, but not before Albert thrust out the pole to the exhausted swimmer. The boy grasped it gratefully. He was pulled over to the boat and Cunning Fox's strong arms lifted him in.

"Thank You, God," Edna breathed prayerfully. The boy lay shivering in the bottom of the boat, breathing shallow and tearing gasps.

Once they were back at the dock Albert carried him up to the house where Edna dried him with towels and wrapped him in a heavy blanket. "We're so thankful we saw you!" she murmured.

"I'm going to fix you some hot tea," Albert said. "I know how cold that water can be, especially in a storm."

"I killed the mink!" Strong Deer blurted, teeth chattering.

"You made a mistake," Cunning Fox said quietly. "We all make mistakes."

"But they're all going to die!"

The rancher shook his head. "You're wrong about that, Strong Deer. Most of them didn't even get sick and I doubt that any others will die."

"I didn't mean to do it." He stammered out the story of the mink that got out and the trouble he had fixing the pen. "I didn't even think about the feed souring until I saw the dead ones this morning."

"I understand, Strong Deer." Albert reached over and rumpled the boy's hair affectionately. "It is a small loss. But, even if it were a big loss, I would forgive you. You made an honest mistake, and I'm sure you've learned much from it."

The boy could not figure that out. Albert didn't even sound as if he was angry, and he said nothing about making him pay for the mink that were dead.

"Aren't you going to beat me?" he asked. "Or at least cuff me for what happened?"

The rancher seemed surprised he would even ask such a thing. "Would that help bring the mink back? Would it make the loss any less?"

"No, but-"

"You know, Strong Deer, there was a time when I'd have done that. But Jesus Christ gave me a new life. You know, He forgave me my sin. You were trying to do good and made a mistake. But I didn't even try to do well. I wanted to do bad things until Jesus came into my life. He wiped my sins away just as you would wipe your handwriting off a blackboard at school. They are gone. The Bible says God won't even remember them any more." His smile was bright with promise. "That's the way we're going to be with what happened yesterday. We're going to pretend it never happened."

"Aren't you going to punish me?" he persisted.

"Of course not."

After supper that evening Edna remembered that they had news from his mother. "We forgot to tell you that we saw your mother when we were at the hospital in Prince Albert, and we talked with her doctor. She's much better."

They were just telling him that, he reasoned, trying to make him feel good.

"That's the truth," Albert added. "We talked with your mother. She told us about the curse you've thought was on the two of you, but there's no curse. Your mother is going to get well."

"You aren't-" he began uncertainly, unable to bring himself to believe any news so good.

"Have I ever lied to you?" the mink rancher asked. "There is no curse on you. It is true that the Bible speaks of evil spirits. But through Christ we can break away from the power of darkness. I was once like you. I burned tobacco and sweet grass to call a spirit helper, and tried to serve one for many years before God set me free.

"I discovered something amazing as I talked to your mother," he went on. "Let me tell you the whole story. A long time ago a small boy followed me into the woods. I placed a piece of cheap jewelry on the sacred bush in order to please my spirit and get him to do something for me. The boy took it off, and I caught him and told him I was putting a curse on him."

Strong Deer's eyes widened. "T-T-That was you?"

"It was 1. I said it because I was angry. I was an evil man in those days, and I went through the motions of putting a curse on you and your mother. I was afraid the spirits would do something terrible to me if I didn't. But then I met Jesus Christ. The Bible says, 'When someone becomes a Christian he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same any more. A new life has begun!'

"When we visited your mother in the hospital, I was the one God permitted to tell your mother about the Lord Jesus. She opened her heart to Him, just as I did. She is a Christian!"

Strong Deer stared, eyes widening. His mother a Christian? It scarcely seemed possible!

"She is praying for you," Albert went on quietly. "If you decide that you want to become a Christian too, I will help you."

The boy looked away thoughtfully. He had been drawn to the Bible and the things it said, but he had been drawn more irresistibly to Edna and Albert because of the lives they lived. Rabbit Skin and the few others in the village who had spirit helpers had talked much about what their spirits had done for them; Cunning Fox and his wife had shown him what Jesus Christ had done for them. Jesus had given them new lives that made them different from others in the village.

His gaze came back to Albert. "I think maybe I want to follow Jesus."

"That is fine, Strong Deer. It makes us happy to know that, but we don't want to pressure you. Think it over tonight and tomorrow. You can let us know tomorrow night if you really mean it."

The boy said no more. Walking with Jesus was a big decision. It was good to think about it; to be sure it was what he wanted to do. He would think much about it that night.

Still, he already knew what his answer would be. He wanted what Albert and Edna had. He wanted what his mother now had. He was going to turn away from old Rabbit Skin and his spirits and give his life to Jesus Christ!