“Barrin’ blistered feet—no,” Montell snapped. His gaze involuntarily travelled to his own broad, shapeless feet, and a smile flickered across Barreau’s countenance. There was a momentary lull. “What are you going to do now?” Barreau inquired next. “I’m goin’ to take eight men, by God! and a string of mules, and hit it in the mornin’,” Montell exploded. “I ain’t goin’ to have that girl winter here, if I know it. And I ain’t goin’ to be headed off from nothin’ by the Hudson Bay or any other damned outfit. I’ll show them bushwhackin’ parties a trick or two. They’ll find old Montell ain’t so slow. I just come over here to let you know I was back, George, so’s you wouldn’t be gettin’ into the foreground to-morrow mornin’ when we’re fixin’ to start. You might just as well be accommodatin’.” “Oh, to be sure. As a favor from one gentleman to another,” Barreau observed sarcastically. “Anything to oblige. But if I were you I should not try it again—not till you can take the outfit lock, stock, and barrel. You may find it only a waste of mules, if not worse. Evidently the Company is minded to pen the lot of us here, and teach us a lesson.” “Just so the girl’s out of it,” Montell muttered defiantly, “they got my permission to go ahead with their teachin’. We’ve held our own for quite a spell. But I got to get her clear. So I’m goin’ to tackle it again.” “Very well,” Barreau said indifferently. “But you had better take a few pair of snowshoes. You may need them.” “Maybe so,” Montell returned. “But I bet I get a scalp or two if they go to settin’ us afoot _this_ trip.” And he gathered up his hat and left the cabin. Barreau lay back on his bed a long time without remark. Then he said aloud, apropos of nothing in particular: “I shouldn’t be surprised if that was the way of it.” I looked over at him, and catching my interrogative gaze, he went on. “I’ve simply been doing a bit of inductive reasoning. Taking things as they are in this country what more natural than that the Hudson’s Bay Company should have become alarmed lest we grow to a formidable competitor, and have simply made up their minds that we must be ousted, by hook or by crook. They have a way of keeping posted, you know. I shouldn’t be surprised if one or two of the men on our payroll were Company spotters. Here is Montell and his daughter, and myself. They might reason that by driving him back and intimidating him, forcing him to winter here, and then harassing us in every conceivable way till spring, they may make us glad to quit. For instance, they could try to kill off our stock and poison our dogs. And if there was a chance to burn us out, why that would be the finishing touch. I shouldn’t be surprised if that is their scheme. And then along in the winter they might even go so far as to have the Mounted Police pull one chestnut out of the fire for them, by revealing my whereabouts.”