ore-house.
Lapierre waved his hand toward the scene.

"You see now," he smiled, "why I built the storehouse so large?"

Chloe nodded, and regarded him intently. "Yes, I see that," she
answered gravely, "but there are things I do not see. Of course you
have heard of the attack by MacNair's Indians?"

Lapierre assented. "At Smith Landing I heard it," he answered, and
waited for her to proceed.

"Had you expected this attack?"

Lapierre glanced at her in well-feigned surprise.

"Had I expected it, Miss Elliston, do you think I would have gone to
the Southward? Would I have left you to the mercy of those brutes?
When I thought you were in danger on Snare Lake, did I----"

The girl interrupted him with a gesture. "No! No! I do not think you
anticipated the attack, but----"

Lapierre finished her sentence. "But, MacNair told you I did, and that
I had timed accurately my trip to the Southward? What else did he tell
you?"

"He told me," answered Chloe, "that had you not anticipated the attack
you would not have armed my Indians with Mausers. He said that my
Indians were armed to kill men, not animals." She paused and looked
directly into his eyes. "Mr. Lapierre, where did those rifles come
from?"

Lapierre answered without a moment's hesitation. "From my--_cache_ to
the westward." He leaned closer. "I told you once before," he said,
"that I could place a hundred guns in the hands of your Indians, and
you forbade me. While I could remain in the North, I bowed to your
wishes. I know the North and its people, and I knew you would be safer
with the rifles than without them. In event of an emergency, the fact
that your Indians were armed with guns that would shoot farther, and
harder, and faster, than the guns of your enemies, would offset, in a
great measure, their advantage in numbers. It seems that my judgment
was vindicated. I disobeyed you flatly. But, surely, you will not
blame me! Oh! If you knew----"

Chloe interrupted him.

"Don't!" she cried sharply. "Please--not that! I--I think I
understand. But there are still things I do not understand. Why did
one of my own Indians attempt to murder MacNair? And how did MacNair
know that he would attempt to murder him? He said you had ordered it
so. And the man was one of your Indians--one of those you left with
LeFroy."

Lapierre nodded. "Do you not see, Miss Elliston, that MacNair is
trying by every means in his power to discredit me