te boy. Him
belong to trappers. Trappers sell and get money. White boy get nothing.
White boy sell to Indian. No tell trappers. Indian go away and no tell.
White boy have all the money--twenty-five dollar." Once more he held up
his hands to indicate the amount.

Sparrer gulped. The plan was simplicity itself. Twenty-five dollars
meant a great deal to him, and no one would ever know. A vision of the
toil-worn face of his mother when he should place twenty-five dollars in
her hands flashed before him. And wasn't the fox his? Hadn't it been
free and wild, belonging to nobody, and hadn't he waited and watched and
with steady hands and a true eye made a clean kill? He knew nothing of
the ethics of a trapper's camp. What the Indian had said might be true,
and he would get no share in the prize he had won. It wasn't fair. It
was an aspect of the matter of which he had not thought. Indeed, in the
excitement of the hunt he had had no opportunity to think of anything
but getting the shot. What he should do with the fox if he got it had
not entered his head. And after the kill the appearance of the Indian
had put everything else out of his head.

In swift review there passed through his mind all that he had heard
about the silver fox of Smugglers' Hollow. He thought of the traps which
Alec had set especially for the wily king and how he and Pat had openly
planned for his capture. This was their trapping territory by right of
preemption. He, Sparrer, was their guest, and but for Pat he would never
have had this wonderful outing. It was even a borrowed rifle with which
he had made the fatal shot. It was luck, mere luck, the luck of a
novice, that had given him the opportunity. But was that any reason why
he should not profit by it? If he had not killed it the animal would
still be running at large and Pat and Alec might never have gotten it.
It was his, his, _his_ and no one else had any claim on it. Why should
he not do as he pleased with it?

Meanwhile the Indian had been watching with an intense fixed stare that
noted every change of expression in the boy's face. A less close
observer than he would have realized that the boy was tempted. He was
cunning enough to know that now was the time to play his trump card and
catch the lad before he had fully regained possession of himself and
spurned the temptation. With a single swift step forward he exclaimed,
"Fifty dollar!"

There was a note of finality in his voice which Sparrer r