d: "Well, Jen, if it isn't Sergeant Tom!
And what brings you down here, Sergeant Tom? After some scalawag that's
broke the law?"

Sergeant Tom had not noticed the blanched anxiety in the father's
face; for his eyes were seeking those of the daughter. He answered the
question as he advanced towards Jen: "Yes and no, Galbraith; I'm only
takin' orders to those who will be after some scalawag by daylight in
the mornin', or before. The hand of a traveller to you, Miss Jen."

Her eyes replied to his in one language; her lips spoke another. "And
who is the law-breaker, Sergeant Tom"? she said, as she took his hand.

Galbraith's eyes strained towards the soldier till the reply came: "And
I don't know that; not wan o' me. I'd ridden in to Fort Desire from
another duty, a matter of a hundred miles, whin the major says to me,
'There's murder been done at Moose Horn. Take these orders down to
Archangel's Rise, and deliver them and be back here within forty-eight
hours.' And here I am on the way, and, if I wasn't ready to drop for
want of a bite and sup, I'd be movin' away from here to the south at
this moment."

Galbraith was trembling with excitement. Pierre warned him by a look,
and almost immediately afterward gave him a reassuring nod, as if an
important and favourable idea had occurred to him.

Jen, looking at the Sergeant's handsome face, said: "It's six months to
a day since you were here, Sergeant Tom."

"What an almanac you are, Miss!"

Pretty Pierre sipping his coffee here interrupted musingly: "But her
almanac is not always so reliable. So I think. When was I here last,
Ma'm'selle?"

With something like menace in her eyes Jen replied: "You were here six
months ago to-day, when you won thirty dollars from our Val; and then
again, just thirty days after that."

"Ah, so! You remember with a difference."

A moment after, Sergeant Tom being occupied in talking to Jen, Pierre
whispered to Peter Galbraith: "His horse--then the laudanum!"

Galbraith was puzzled for a moment, but soon nodded significantly, and
the sinister droop to his eyes became more marked. He turned to the
Sergeant and said, "Your horse must be fed as well as yourself, Sergeant
Tom. I'll look after the beast, and Jen will take care of you. There's
some fresh coffee, isn't there, Jen?"

Jen nodded an affirmative. Galbraith knew that the Sergeant would trust
no one to feed his horse but himself, and the offer therefore was made
with design.

Se