Lewis glanced back at the fire. “You musta counted the little fellow sitting on that side by himself. That’s Frog. He came back from the river with us, but he wasn’t in our original party.” Hawk took a closer look at the little, elflike man, dressed in animal skins, sitting close by the fire. His knees pulled up under his chin, he seemed fascinated by the flames that licked the iron stewpot as he rocked gently back and forth in time with some rhythm obviously he alone could hear. “Don’t mind him,” Lewis said. “I don’t know where he came from. He’s tetched in the head, but he’s harmless.” He paused a moment before deciding to say, “As a matter of fact, I kinda believe Frog was placed in our path by God.” When that statement caused Conner to raise an eyebrow, Lewis continued, “I don’t know how he wound up with us after we floated down that river, but when we came out, he was with us. I was pretty much confused after half drownin’ in that cold water. I don’t think any of us knew for sure which way to go and we started in the wrong direction. But he came up and kept tuggin’ on my shirtsleeve and pointin’ in the opposite direction, till I gave in and went the way he pointed. We didn’t walk a quarter of a mile before we came to a farmhouse and the people who took us in and cared for us till we were all well enough to go back to Fort Benton.”

Hawk and Conner both took another look at the little man huddled by the fire. Conner saw fit to say, “The Lord moves in mysterious ways.”

Hawk asked, “Why do you call him Frog?”

Lewis shook his head as if apologizing. He nodded toward the young boy. “Lemuel started callin’ him that because he hops around like a frog. Like I said, he’s tetched. We don’t know his real name.”

“How far from here is that place where you went into the river, where they shot all the rest of your party?” Hawk asked. Lewis said he wasn’t sure, but that he would guess about halfway to Great Falls. “How did it happen that so many of you were ambushed? How many were in the gang that attacked you?”