"We haven't talked to Mr. Macdonald yet about the attack on him," Diane explained. "But he must have recognized the men. There are many footprints at the ford, showing how they moved over the ground as they fought. So he could not have been unconscious from the first blow." "Unless they were masked he must have known them. It was light enough," agreed Elliot. "Peter is still trying to get the officers to accept bail, but I don't think he will succeed. There is a good deal of feeling in town against you." "Because I am supposed to be an enemy to an open Alaska, I judge." "Mainly that. Wally Selfridge has been talking a good deal. He takes it for granted that you are guilty. We'll have to wait in patience till Mr. Macdonald speaks and clears you. The doctor won't let us mention the subject to him until he comes to it of his own free will." Gopher stuck his head in at the door. "You'll have to go, ladies. Time's up." When Sheba bade the prisoner good-bye it was with a phrase of the old Irish vernacular. "God save you kindly." He knew the peasant's answer to the wish and gave it. "And you too." The girl left the prison with a mist in her eyes. Her cousin looked at her with a queer, ironic little smile of affection. To be in trouble was a sure passport to the sympathy of Sheba. Now both her lovers were in a sad way. Diane wondered which of them would gain most from this new twist of fate. Sheba turned to Mrs. Paget with an impulsive little burst of feminine ferocity. "Why do they put him in prison when they must know he didn't do it--that he couldn't do such a thing?" "They don't all know as well as you do how noble he is, my dear," answered Diane dryly. "But it's just absurd to think that he would plan the murder of a man he has broken bread with for a few hundred dollars." Diane flashed another odd little glance in the direction of her cousin. Probably Sheba was the one woman in Kusiak who did not know that Macdonald had served an ultimatum on Elliot to get out or fight and that their rivalry over her favor was at the bottom of the difficulty between them. "It will work out all right," promised the older cousin. Returning from their walk, they met Wally Selfridge coming out of the Paget house. "Did you see Mr. Macdonald?" asked Diane. "Yes. He's quite rational now." There was a jaunty little strut of triumph in Wally's cock-sure manner. Mrs. Paget knew he had made himself very busy securing evidence against Gordon. He was probably trying to curry favor with his chief. The little man always had been jealous of Peter. Perhaps he was attempting to rap him over the shoulder of Elliot because the Government official was a friend of Paget. Just now his insolent voice suggested a special cause for exultation.