ause or warning. I guess this
beggar was strictly on the warpath, looking for trouble on general
principles."

"Was he after me?" Hazel asked.

"Well, I don't know whether he had a grudge against you," Bill smiled.
"But he was sure coming with his mouth open and his arms spread wide.
You notice I didn't take time to go after my rifle, and I'm not a
foolhardy person as a rule. I don't tackle a grizzly with a hatchet
unless I'm cornered, believe me. It was lucky he wasn't overly big.
At that, I can feel my hair stand up when I think how he would have
mussed us up if I'd missed that first swing at his head. You'll never
have a closer call. And the same thing might not happen again if you
lived in a bear country for thirty years.

"It's a pity to let that good skin rot here," Bill concluded slowly;
"but I guess I will. I don't want his pelt. It would always be a
reminder of things--things I'd just as soon forget."

He tucked the hatchet in its place on the pack. Hazel swung up on
Silk. They tipped over the crest of the mountain, and began the long
descent.

The evening of the third day from there Bill traveled till dusk. When
camp was made and the fire started, he called Hazel to one side, up on
a little rocky knoll, and pointed out a half dozen pin points of yellow
glimmering distantly in the dark.

"That's Bella Coola," he told her. "And unless they've made a radical
change in their sailing schedules there should be a boat clear
to-morrow at noon."

CHAPTER XIV

THE DRONE OF THE HIVE

A black cloud of smoke was rolling up from the funnel of the _Stanley
D._ as Bill Wagstaff piloted Hazel from the grimy Bella Coola hotel to
the wharf.

"There aren't many passengers," he told her. "They're mostly cannery
men. But you'll have the captain's wife to chaperon you. She happens
to be making the trip."

When they were aboard and the cabin boy had shown them to what was
dignified by the name of stateroom, Bill drew a long envelope from his
pocket.

"Here," he said, "is a little money. I hope you won't let any foolish
pride stand in the way of using it freely. It came easy to me. I dug
it out of Mother Earth, and there's plenty more where it came from.
Seeing that I deprived you of access to your own money and all your
personal belongings, you are entitled to this any way you look at it.
And I want to throw in a bit of gratuitous advice--in case you should
conclude to go back to the Meadows.