useless. But don't reckon I'm a
willing quitter. I'll play the game till it can't be played longer. And
when I've got to I'll throw my hands up. Not before. But Idepski can't
follow my trail."

"But he ken cut it," Bat cried, desperation finding expression in a
clenched, out-held fist.

"Can he?"

The missionary smiled confidently. And Bat suddenly flung out both
hands.

"Say, Les," he cried, "do you think I want to see my partner, and best
friend, hounded to a life of hell by that swine, Hellbeam? It breaks me
to death the thought of it. Man, man, it sets me nigh crazed thinking
that way. Don't I count with you? Don't the others you came along to
help count? That dandy gal I've heard you wish was your own daughter?
Don't she count? Say, we're all for you, Bull an' Nancy, an' me, just
the same as the rest of the folk of the forest. Stop right here, man.
Take your place again, an' we'll fight Hellbeam as we've fought his
Skandinavia. Say, we'll fight for you as we've never fought before.
We'll fight him, and beat him, and keep you safe from that hell he's got
waitin' for you. Just say the word, and stop right here. And I'll swear
before God--"

Leslie Standing raised a protesting hand. His eyes were unsmiling.

"It's useless, old friend," he said with irrevocable decision. "You
don't know the thing you're trying to pledge yourself to. You think me a
crazy man. You think I'm just asking for the trouble Hellbeam figures to
hand out to me. I'm not. I've got the full measure of the whole thing.
And I know the thing I'm doing doesn't matter. I'm not going to change
the plan of life I've laid down. I've learnt happiness in the forests.
The twilight of it all has been my salvation. Time was when I had other
desires, other delights. They've long since passed. Now there's only one
appeal to me in life. It's the boys, the scallawags, who haunt the
forest like I do. I love them. And my life's theirs as long as Hellbeam
leaves it to me. Get just that into your thick, old head, Bat, and for
our last five minutes together we can talk of things more pleasant than
Hellbeam."

The missionary smiled down into the strong face of his companion. And
the lumberman realised the uselessness of further protest. He yielded
grudgingly. He yielded because he knew and loved the man. By a great
effort he turned his mind from the dread haunting it.

"You've got me beat, Les," he growled. Then he spat in his disgust.

The missionary nodded,