A sudden, reckless rage took possession of Jim. He stooped swiftly, snatched the largest brand from the fire and flung it in Homer's face. Homer swore and twitched his finger. The hammer of the Snider fell, the cap in the base of the cartridge detonated with a sharp crack--and that was all! And before the volunteer man-hunter could eject the worthless charge and insert another--another equally worthless, had he only known it--Jim was at him. Homer clubbed his rifle and swung it, but Jim ducked, grabbed with his right hand and yanked Homer into the pit, rifle and snowshoes and all. Despite the fact that he kept his left foot clear of the ground all the time, Jim had the intruder disarmed and bound helplessly at wrist and ankle in thirty seconds. Jim crawled out of the den and thicket to look for the sled which Steeves had mentioned. Flora followed him. "He tried to kill you," she whispered. "He doesn't like me, evidently," replied Jim. "Lucky for me the cartridge didn't explode!" "What will we do next?" she asked. "Start for home first thing to-morrow morning, if you feel fit to travel." "But you can't crawl all the way." "Homer will have to drag me on the sled. That's what he brought it for." "But he intended to haul you home as a prisoner. Now it will be a different matter entirely when he knows that the sheriff doesn't want you. He will refuse to haul you, for he is very stubborn; and then what can we do? You wouldn't shoot him." "No, I wouldn't shoot him. I couldn't do more than threaten him." "And if he saw that you were anxious to get back to the glen, then he would know that you are innocent and he would refuse to haul you a foot. We'll have to fool him." "How?" "Let him go on thinking you are guilty. And I'll tie you up early to-morrow morning and set him free, but I'll throw his cartridges away and keep your rifle handy. He will haul you right up to the kitchen door, Jim; and then it will be time to tell him the truth." "Flora, you are a wonder! And you are not angry with me, are you?" "Angry? Why should I be angry now that we are good friends again?" "Then I'll chance it again!" he exclaimed, and he did. They returned to their prisoner and the fire. They did not talk to each other or Homer. Jim ejected the unexploded cartridge from the Snider and pocketed it. He took the other cartridges from Homer's pocket and was about to throw them away when a bright scratch on the brass of one of them caught his eye. He examined it carefully, then extracted the bullet with the point of his knife. He did the same to the other shells. "Where did you get your ammunition?" he asked. "What's wrong with it?" asked the prisoner, who had watched the operations keenly and curiously. "No explosive charges," replied Jim.