,
stoop-shouldered, suddenly old and haggard, Barry Houston walked down
the logging road beside a man whose mind also had been recalled to
thoughts of murder. A sudden fear went over the younger man; he
wondered whether this great being who walked at his side had believed,
and at last in desperation, he faced him.

"Well, Ba'tiste," came in strained tones, "I might as well hear it now
as at any other time. They've about got me whipped, anyway, so you'll
only be leaving a sinking ship."

"What you mean?" The French-Canadian stopped.

"Just the plain facts. I'm about at the end of my rope; my mill's all
but gone, my flume is in the hands of some one else, my lake is leased,
and Thayer can make as many inroads on my timber as he cares to, as
long as he appeases the court by paying me the magnificent sum of a
dollar and a half a thousand for it. So, you see, there isn't much
left for me."

"What you do?"

"That depends entirely on you--and what effect that accusation made.
If you're with me, I fight. If not--well frankly--I don't know."

"'Member the mill, when he burn down?"

"Yes."

"You no believe Ba'teese did heem. _Oui_, yes? Well, now I no believe
either!"

"Honestly, Ba'tiste?" Houston had gripped the other man's arm. "You
don't believe it? You don't--"

"Ba'teese believe M'sieu Houston. You look like my Pierre. My Pierre,
he could do no wrong. Ba'teese satisfy."

It sent a new flow of blood through the veins of Barry Houston,--that
simple, quiet statement of the old trapper. He felt again a surge of
the fighting instinct, the desire to keep on and on, to struggle until
the end, and to accept nothing except the bitterest, most absolute
defeat. He quickened his pace, the French-Canadian falling in with
him. His voice bore a vibrant tone, almost of excitement:

"I'm going back to Boston to-night. I'm going to find out about this.
I can get a machine at Tabernacle to take me over the range; it may
save me time in catching a train at Denver. There's some fraud,
Ba'tiste. I know it.--and I'll prove it if I can get back to Boston.
We'll stop by the cottage down here and see Miss Jierdon; then I'm
gone!"

"She no there. She, what-you-say, smash up 'quaintance with Medaine.
She ask to go there and stay day or two."

"Then she'll straighten things out, Ba'tiste. I'm glad of it. She
knows the truth about this whole thing--every step of the way. Will
you tell her?"

"_Oui_. Ba'tees