_knew_ Lapierre was on Snare Lake!" The words fell
from her lips with an intense eagerness that carried the ring of
sincerity. The hard look faded from the man's eyes, and the bearded
lips suggested just the shadow of a smile.

"No," he answered weakly; "I do not think that. But tell me, how long
have I been this way? And what has happened? For I remember
nothing--after the world turned black. I am surprised that Lapierre
missed me. He has the reputation for killing--at his own range."

"But he didn't miss you!" cried the girl in surprise. "It was his
bullet that--that made the world turn black."

"Aye; but it was a miss, just the same, and a miss, I am thinking, that
will cost him dear. He should have killed me."

"Please do not talk," said the girl in sudden alarm, and taking the
medicine from the table, held the spoon to the man's lips. He
swallowed its contents, and was about to speak when Chloe interrupted
him. "Please do not talk," she begged, "and I'll tell you what
happened. There is not much to tell: after we bound up your wounds we
brought you here, where I could give you proper care. It took three
days to do this, and two days have passed since we arrived."

"I knew I was in your----"

Chloe flushed deeply. "Yes, in my room," she hastened to interrupt
him; "but you must not talk. It was the only place I knew where you
could be quiet and--and safe."

"But, Lapierre--why did he allow it?"

Chloe flushed. "Allow it! I do not take orders from Mr. Lapierre, nor
from you, nor from anybody else. This is my school; this cottage is
mine; I'll do as I please with it, and I'll bring who I please into it
without asking permission from any one."

While she was speaking, the man's glance strayed from her flashing eyes
to the face of a tarnished, smoke-blackened portrait that showed
indistinct in the dull lamplight of the little room. Chloe's glance
followed MacNair's, and as the little clock ticked sharply, both stared
in silence into the lean, lined features of Tiger Elliston.

"Your eyes," murmured the man--"sometimes they are like that."
Suddenly his voice strengthened. He continued to gaze at the face in
the dull gold frame. With an effort he withdrew an arm from beneath
the cover and pointed with a finger that trembled weakly. "I should
like to have known him," he said. "By God, yon is the face of a _man_!"

"My grandfather," muttered the girl.

"You'll love the North--when you kno