You know how that
panned out. We had a stake then. Lessard was the brains, the guiding
genius; we did the work. The original plan was to make a clean-up,
divide with him, and get out of the country--while he used his authority
to throw the Force off the track till we were well away. Then the girl
appeared, and Lessard lost his head. She turned him down; and at the
last moment he upset our plans by deciding to cut loose and go with us.
I believe now that he hatched this latest scheme when she refused him. I
tell you he was fairly mad about her. He took advantage of this last
trip to loot the post of all the funds he could lay hands on. We
have--or, rather, _they_ have," he corrected, "about a hundred and fifty
thousand altogether.

"We couldn't ford Milk River on account of the storm. You tracked us?
You saw our last camp? Yes. Well, we left there early this morning. And
when Hicks turned off opposite Baker's outfit with an extra horse, I
thought nothing of it--it was perfectly safe, and we needed more
matches, Lessard said. Not until he joined us later with the girl did I
suspect that there were wheels within wheels; a kidnapping had never
occurred to me; I hadn't thought his infatuation would carry him that
far. She realized at once that she had been hoodwinked, and appealed to
Lessard. He laughed at her, and told her that he had abandoned the
modern method of winning a mate, and gone back to the primitive mode.

"I've put myself beyond the pale; outlaw, thief, what you like--I'm not
sensitive to harsh names. But a woman--a good woman! Well, I have my own
ideas about such things. And when we camped here, I had made up my mind.
I told Lessard she must go back. That was a foolish move. I should have
got the drop and killed him out of hand. While I argued with him, Hicks
slipped a knife into my back, and as I turned on him Lessard shot me.
Ah, well--it'll be all the same a hundred years from now. But I'd like
to put a spoke in their wheel for the sake of that blue-eyed girl.

"MacRae, you and Smith know the mouth of Sage Creek, and the ford there.
That's where they'll camp to-night. I doubt if they'll cross the river
till morning. If you ride you can make it in three hours. From there
they plan to follow Milk River to the Missouri and catch a down-stream
boat. But you'll get them to-night. You must. Now give me another
drink--and drift!"

"We'll get them, Goodell." MacRae rose to his feet as he spoke. "You're
white,