t of the man who,
under Lapierre's orders, had wrought the destruction of his post at Snare
Lake, MacNair leaped forward with a snarl of anger. But before he could
reach the trembling man the form of Big Lena interposed, and MacNair
found himself swamped by a jargon of broken English that taxed to the
utmost his power of comprehension.

"Ju yoost vait vun meenit. Ay tal ju som'ting gude. Dis damn LeFroy, he
bane bad man. He vork by Lapierre, and he tak' de vhiskey to jour
Injuns, but he don't vork no more by Lapierre; he vork by me. Ay goin'
to marry him, and ju bet Ay keep him gude, or Ay bust de stove chunk
'crost his head. He vork by Mees Chloe now, and he lak ju gif him chance
to show he ain't no bad man no more."

Big Lena shook the man roughly by way of emphasis, and MacNair smiled as
he noted the foolish grin with which LeFroy submitted to the inevitable.
For years he had known LeFroy as a bad man, second only to Lapierre in
cunning and brutal cruelty; and to see him now, cowering under the
domination of his future spouse, was to MacNair the height of the
ridiculous--but MacNair was unmarried.

"All right," he growled, and LeFroy's relief at the happy termination of
the interview was plainly written upon his features, for this meeting had
not been of his own seeking. The memory of the shots which had taken off
two of his companions that night on Snare Lake, was still fresh, and in
his desire to avoid a meeting with MacNair he had sought refuge in the
kitchen. Whereupon Big Lena had taken matters into her own hands and
literally dragged him into MacNair's presence, replying to his terrified
protest that if MacNair was going to kill him, he was going to kill and
he might as well have it over with.

Thus it was that the relieved LeFroy leaped with alacrity to obey when, a
moment later, MacNair ordered him to the storehouse to break out the
necessary provisions for a ten-days' journey for all his Indians. So
well did the half-breed execute the order that upon MacNair's arrival at
the store-house he found LeFroy not only supplying provisions with a
lavish hand, but taking huge delight in passing out to the waiting
Indians Lapierre's Mauser rifles and ammunition.

When MacNair, with his Indians, reached Snare Lake, it was to find that
Pierre Lapierre had taken himself and his outlaws to the Lac du Mort
rendezvous. Whereupon he immediately despatched thirty Indians back to
LeFroy for the supplies necessar