"It is named after an age-old dweller in our midst whom, since you are a Westerner, you must have often met." "Who is that?" "Mr. Rattlesnake." "Oh, certainly. I've met him on many occasions--mostly to his sorrow, I fancy. Rattlesnake Reservation, eh?" "Well, that would be it in English. But in the Pauba tongue Mr. Rattlesnake becomes Showut Poche-daka." "What's that!" Oliver turned quickly in his saddle to find her dark wide eyes fixed on him intently. "Say that again, please." "Showut Poche-daka," she repeated slowly. "M'm-m! Strikes me as something of a coincidence--a part of that name." "Showut is one word," she said, still watching him. "Poche and daka are two words hyphenated." "And how do the English-speaking people spell the second word, Poche?" he asked. "P-o-c-h-e," she spelled distinctly. "Long o, accent on the first syllable." Oliver reined in. "Stop a second," he ordered crisply. "Why, that's the way my horse's name is spelled. Say, that's funny!" "Is your trail growing plainer?" He looked at her earnestly. "Look here," he said bluntly. "I distinctly remember telling you the other day that my horse's name is Poche. Didn't you connect it with the name of the reservation at the time?" "I did." He looked at her in silence. "You did, eh?" he remarked finally. "I don't even know what my horse's name means. Dad bought him while I was away at college. I understood the horse was named that when Dad got hold of him, and that he merely hadn't changed it. Now, I won't say that Dad told me as much outright, but I gathered that impression somehow. I knew it was an Indian name, but had no idea of the meaning." "Literally Poche means bob-tailed--short-tailed. That's why it occurs in the title of our friend Mr. Rattlesnake. While your Poche-horse is not bob-tailed, his tail is rather heavy and short, you'll admit. Has nothing of the length and graceful sweep of White Ann's tail, if you'll pardon me." "You can't lead me into joshing just now, young lady. Answer this: Why didn't you tell me, when I told you my _caballo's_ name, that you knew what it meant? Most everybody asks me what it means when I tell 'em his name; but you did not even show surprise over the oddity of it--and I wondered. And before, when you spoke of this tribe of Indians, you called them the Paubas." "Certainly I showed no surprise, for I am familiar with the word poche and have just proved that I know its meaning. And I'm not very clever at simulating an emotion that I don't feel. I didn't tell you, moreover, because I wanted you to find out for yourself. I thought you'd do so here. Yes--and I deliberately called these people the Paubas. They _are_ Paubas--a branch of the Pauba tribe." "I thought you were to help me," he grumbled. "You're adding to the mystery, it seems to me."