an' tell the Frenchman."

I succeeded in making De Croix understand, by means of the mongrel
French at my command, which seemed not to be intelligible to the
savages; and we moved forward at as slow a gait as our vigilant guards
permitted, with every muscle tense for the coming strain. We were
bunched together, with no pretence of order on the part of our captors;
indeed, they seemed to be of various minds over what was to be done
with us, though Topenebe exercised sufficient control over his mongrel
followers to compel at least partial obedience to his orders. We
tramped along to the west of the factory, the walls of which shut off
all view of the Fort, a half-dozen of the savages about us, while the
chief stalked on a few feet in advance.

We had almost reached the southwestern corner of the big Agency
building, and Topenebe had already taken a step to the right, carefully
keeping the log walls as a protection between our movements and the
eyes of the garrison, when Burns, shaking off the Indians nearest him,
bounded suddenly forward and struck Topenebe with his head, hurling the
fellow by his side over backward as he passed.

"Run for the gate!" he yelled.

Like an arrow from the bow, I shot around the Agency corner, and raced
for the stockade, De Croix, running like a deer, barely a foot behind
me. I never dreamed, in that moment of intense action, that Burns was
not also coming,--that he had deliberately sacrificed himself in order
to hold back the savages and give us the better chance for life.
Behind arose the sound of struggle, but there was no indication of
pursuit, and as I rounded the end of the stockade the lower gate swung
open just before me and I glanced back, half pausing as I realized the
old borderer had not followed us; then some one tripped me, and I fell
headlong. With a sudden rush, De Croix swept by.

"France wins, Monsieur!" he cried back in mocking triumph, as I
staggered to my knees.

CHAPTER XVII

A CONTEST OF WITS

Though I was never of hasty or violent temper, it was quite as well
that I failed to gain a sight of De Croix as I passed the posts and the
sentry clanged the gate behind me. The Frenchman's scurvy trick would
have heated cooler blood than mine; nor was my spirit soothed by the
harsh fall I suffered. But De Croix had not waited; nowhere along the
bare sunlit parade was he visible. I saw nothing but a squad of
grinning soldiers lounging beside the barracks, u