e fur, proceed at once to the mouth of Slave River, transfer it to
the scows, and immediately start upon the track-line journey to
Athabasca Landing. His own canoe he loaded with rifles and ammunition,
and returned to the Yellow Knife. It was then he learned that Chloe
had gone to Snare Lake, and while he little relished an incursion into
MacNair's domain, he secreted the rifles in the store-house and set out
forthwith to overtake her. Despite the fact that he knew the girl to
be strongly prejudiced against MacNair, Lapierre had no wish for her to
see his colony in its normal condition of peace and prosperity. And
so, pushing his canoemen to the limit of their endurance, he overtook
her as she talked with MacNair by the side of his mother's grave.

Creeping noiselessly through the scrub to the very edge of the tiny
clearing, Lapierre satisfied himself that MacNair was unattended by his
Indians. The man's back was turned toward him, and the quarter-breed
noticed that, as he talked, he leaned upon his rifle. It was a chance
in a thousand. Never before had he caught MacNair unprepared--and the
man's blood would be upon his own head. Drawing the revolver from its
holster, he timed his movements to the fraction of a second; and
deliberately snapped a twig, MacNair whirled like a flash, and Lapierre
fired. His bullet went an inch too high, and when Chloe insisted upon
carrying the wounded man to the school, Lapierre could but feebly
protest.

The journey down the Yellow Knife was a nightmare for the
quarter-breed, who momentarily expected an attack from MacNair's
Indians. Upon their safe arrival, however, his black eyes glittered
wickedly--at last MacNair was _his_. Fate had played directly into his
hands. He knew the attack was inevitable, and during the
excitement--well, LeFroy could be trusted to attend to MacNair. With
the rifles in the storehouse, MacNair's Indians would be beaten back,
and in the event of an investigation by the Mounted, the responsibility
would be laid at MacNair's door. But of that MacNair would never know,
for MacNair would have passed beyond.

Knowing that the vengeance of MacNair's Indians would not be long
delayed, Lapierre determined to be well away from the Yellow Knife when
the attack came. However, he had no wish to leave without first
assuring himself that the shooting of MacNair stood justified in the
eyes of the girl, and to that end he had called upon her in her cottage.