rdineer! Yes, he is gone. He was my friend--so tall, and such
a hunter! We were at the Ding Dong goldfields together. When luck went
bad, I said to him: 'Come, we will go where there is plenty of wild
meat, and a summer more beautiful than in the south.' I did not want to
part from him, for once, when some miner stole my claim, and I fought,
he stood by me. But in some things he was a little child. That was from
his big heart. Well, he would go, he said; and we came away."

He suddenly became silent; and shook his head, and spoke under his
breath.

"Yes," said Lawless quietly, "you went away. What then?"

He looked up quickly, as though just aware of their presence, and
continued:

"Well, the other followed, as I said, and--"

"No, Pourcette," interposed Lawless, "you didn't say. Who was the other
that followed?"

The old man looked at him gravely, and a little severely, and continued:

"As I said, Gawdor followed--he and an Indian. Gawdor thought we were
going for gold, because I had said I knew a place in the north where
there was gold in a river--I know the place, but that is no matter. We
did not go for gold just then. Gawdor hated Jo Gordineer. There was
a half-breed girl. She was fine to look at. She would have gone to
Gordineer if he had beckoned, any time; but he waited--he was very slow,
except with his finger on a gun; he waited too long.

"Gawdor was mad for the girl. He knew why her feet came slow to the
door when he knocked. He would have quarrelled with Jo, if he had dared;
Gordineer was too quick a shot. He would have killed him from behind;
but it was known in the camp that he was no friend of Gordineer, and it
was not safe."

Again Pourcette was silent. Lawless put on his knee a new pipe, filled
with tobacco. The little man took it, lighted it, and smoked on in
silence for a time undisturbed. Shon broke the silence, by a whisper to
Lawless:

"Jo was a quiet man, as patient as a priest; but when his blood came up,
there was trouble in the land. Do you remimber whin--"

Lawless interrupted him and motioned towards Pourcette. The old man,
after a few puffs, held the pipe on his knee, disregarding it. Lawless
silently offered him some more whisky, but he shook his head. Presently,
he again took up the thread:

"Bien, we travelled slow up through the smoky river country, and beyond
into a wild land. We had bully sport as we went. Sometimes I heard
shots far away behind us; but Gordineer said i