recalled the
tragedy there. And what would happen--now? The thought came to him like
a dash of cold water, and yet, after a moment, his teeth gleamed in a
smile as a vision rose before him of the love and purity which he had
seen in the sweet face of the colonel's wife. He chuckled softly to
himself as he dragged out a pack from under his bunk; but there was
no humor in the chuckle. From it he took a bundle wrapped in soft
birch-bark, and from this produced the skull that he had brought up with
him from the South. There was a tremble of excitement in his low laugh
as he glanced about the gloomy interior of the cabin.

From the log ceiling hung a big oil lamp with a tin reflector, and under
this he hung the skull.

"You'll make a pretty ornament, M'sieur Janette," he exclaimed, standing
off to contemplate the white thing leering and bobbing at him from the
end of its string. "Mon Dieu, I tell you that when the lamp is lighted
Bucky Nome must be blind if he doesn't recognize you, even though you're
dead, M'sieur!"

He lighted a smaller lamp, shaved himself, and changed his clothes. It
was dark when he was ready for supper, and Nome had not returned. He
waited a quarter of an hour longer, then put on his cap and coat and
lighted the big oil lamp. At the door he turned to look back. The
cavernous sockets of the skull stared at him. From where he stood he
could see the ragged hole above the ear.

"It's your game to-night, M'sieur Janette," he cried back softly, and
closed the door behind him.

They were gathered before a huge fire of logs in the factor's big
living-room when Philip joined the others. A glance told him why Nome
had not returned to the cabin. Breed and the colonel were smoking cigars
over a ragged ledger of stupendous size, which the factor had spread
out upon a small table, and both were deeply absorbed. Mrs. Becker was
facing the fire, and close beside her sat Nome, leaning toward her and
talking in a voice so low that only a murmur of it came to Steele's
ears. The man's face was flushed when he looked up, and his eyes shone
with the old fire which made Philip hate him.

As the woman turned to greet him Steele felt a suddenly sickening
sensation grip at his heart. Her cheeks, too, were flushed, and the
color in them deepened still more when he bowed to her and joined the
two men at the table. The colonel shook hands with him, and Philip
noticed that once or twice after that his eyes shifted uneasily i