ite man would go out of his way to help a girl like Lyn Rowan,
there's the certainty that the Canadian government will be pretty
generous to anybody who helps round up that crooked bunch and restore
the stolen money. Piegan snorted when I told him we were on the
dodge--that they were trying to nail us for holding up the paymaster.
That's the rottenest part of the whole thing. I think--but then we've
got to do more than think to get ourselves out of this jackpot."

He stopped abruptly, and went on with his breakfast. By the time we were
done eating, the gray light of a bedraggled morning revealed tiny lakes
in every hollow, and each coulee and washout was a miniature torrent of
muddy water--with a promise of more to come in the murky cloud-drift
that overcast the sky. Horner sent out two men to relieve the
night-herders, remarked philosophically "More rain, more rest," and
retired to the shelter of the cook's canvas. His drivers sought cover in
and under the wagons, where they had spent the night. But though mud and
swollen streams might hold back the cumbrous freight outfit, it did not
follow that heavy going would delay the flitting of the thieves, if they
planned such a move; nor would it prevent the Mounted Police from
descending on the Baker outfit if they thought we had taken refuge
there. So we held council of war with Piegan, after which we saddled up
and made ready to tackle the soaked prairies.

While we were packing grub and bedding on Piegan's extra horse, Lyn
joined us, wrapped from head to heel in a yellow slicker. And by the way
Mac greeted her I knew that they had bridged that gap of five years to
their mutual satisfaction; that she was loath to see him set out on a
hazardous mission she presently made plain.

"Let it go, Gordon," she begged. "There's been too much blood shed over
that wretched gold already. Let them have it. I know something dreadful
will happen if you follow it up."

MacRae smiled and shook his head stubbornly. "I'm too deep in, little
woman, to quit now," he told her patiently. "If it was only a matter of
your money, we could get along without it. But Sarge stands to lose a
lot, if we give up at this stage of the game. And besides, I'd always be
more or less on the dodge if this thing isn't cleared up. I've got to
see it through. You wouldn't have me sneak out of this country like a
whipped pup, would you? There's too big an account to settle with those
fellows, Lyn; it's up to us,