sts.

"I am Sergeant Carrigan, of 'N' Division, Royal Northwest Mounted
Police," he said, repeating the formula of the law. "Sit down, St.
Pierre, and I will tell you a few things that have happened. And then--"

"Non, non, it is not necessary, m'sieu. I have already listened for an
hour, and I do not like to hear a story twice. You are of the Police. I
love the Police. They are brave men, and brave men are my brothers. You
are out after Roger Audemard, the rascal! Is it not so? And you were
shot at behind the rock back there. You were almost killed. Ma foi, and
it was my Jeanne who did the shooting! Yes, she thought you were
another man." The chuckling, drum-like note of laughter came again out
of St. Pierre's great chest. "It was bad shooting. I have taught her
better, but the sun was blinding there in the hot, white sand. And
after that--I know everything that has happened. Bateese was wrong. I
shall scold him for wanting to put you at the bottom of the
river--perhaps. Oui, ce que femme veut, Dieu le veut--that is it. A
woman must have her way, and my Jeanne's gentle heart was touched
because you were a brave and handsome man, M'sieu Carrigan. But I am
not jealous. Jealousy is a worm that does not make friendship! And we
shall be friends. Only as a friend could I take you to the Chateau
Boulain, far up on the Yellowknife. And we are going there."

In spite of what might have been the entirely proper thing to do at
this particular moment, Carrigan's face broke into a smile as he drew a
second chair up close to the table. He was swift to readjust himself.
It came suddenly back to him how he had grinned behind the rock, when
death seemed close at hand. And St. Pierre was like that now. David
measured him again as the chief of the Boulains sat down opposite him.
Such a man could not be afraid of anything on the face of the earth,
even of the Law. The gleam that lay in his eyes told David that as they
met his own over the table. "We are smiling now because it happens to
please us," David read in them. "But in a moment, if it is necessary,
we shall fight."

Carrigan leaned a little over the table. "You know we are not going to
the Chateau Boulain, St. Pierre," he said. "We are going to stop at
Fort McMurray, and there you and your wife must answer for a number of
things that have happened. There is one way out--possibly. That is
largely up to you. Why did your wife try to kill me behind the rock?
And what did you know