sprawling, Sparrer also
being upset. Before the Indian could regain his feet Big Pierre was on
him, sending his big fist crashing full into the swarthy face. Then
wrenching the knife from his grasp Pierre flung it far into the brush
and once more raised his fist. By this time Pat and Alec had joined the
melee and were dragging the infuriated Frenchman from his victim. All
the time Pierre poured out a stream of invective which only the Indian
and Alec could understand. The latter explained later that he was
charging his companion with trying to put them both in prison after they
had been fortunate enough to win their freedom, believing, and rightly,
that if the Indian had succeeded in slashing the skin as he had intended
they would have been held and turned over to the proper authorities.

"Dat puts me even wid him!" shrilled Sparrer triumphantly as he mounted
guard over the fox, and the Indian with a bruised and battered face
regained his feet and once more hit the trail, Big Pierre at his heels
heaping abuse upon him. As they disappeared in the brush Pat dropped the
butt of his rifle to the snow.

"That's the end of that precious pair, so far as we are concerned," said
he with a sigh of relief. "Pierre is wise enough to know that this isn't
a healthy country for them, and they won't bother us any more. He's got
the Indian where the hair is short now, for the latter hasn't even a
knife, and I guess it's just as well. Now we'll finish our job here and
get back to camp. You fellows rustle up some birch bark and dry wood and
heap it up inside the cabin."

"What for?" demanded Hal, looking blank.

"To fumigate after the prisence av a skunk," retorted Pat whimsically.

By means of the belt axes of the boys, supplemented by the Indian's axe
in the hands of Alec, a pile of inflammable stuff was soon collected and
heaped up inside the cabin. Then Pat touched a match to the pile and
soon the whole interior was a roaring furnace. The bark roof quickly
burned through and fell with a great hissing of the snow which it
carried down with it, sending the sparks and embers skyward in a golden
cloud. Satisfied that the destruction of the camp would be sufficient to
render it uninhabitable Pat ordered all hands to make ready for the
return to their own camp and they were soon on the trail. The fire was
left to burn itself out, as no harm could come from it, owing to the
snow-covered surroundings.

Hal still puzzled over the burning