ench Canadians were also reviving, and the boys tied them
up in the same way. The fourth was in bad shape, and it took vigorous
rubbing to restore him to consciousness: if he had been neglected a
little longer he might have died.

They laid the captives out in a row on a pile of hemlock branches, and
lighted a roaring fire to keep them from freezing. Horace then went
through Mitchell's pockets, and recovered the sack of stones that Fred
had seen. He poured the glittering crystals into his hand, while
Mitchell looked on in black disappointment.

"My friend," said Horace, "you've taken a vast amount of trouble,
risked committing murder, and almost lost your own life for these
pebbles. Here, I'll give them to you." He poured the crystals back
into the pouch, and then flung the sack into the man's lap.

[Illustration: FLUNG THE SACK INTO THE MAN'S LAP]

The outlaw looked utterly bewildered.

"Ain't them diamonds?" he exclaimed.

"Fool's diamonds," Horace replied. "Maybe you can get five dollars for
the lot. If they were real diamonds, you might be a millionaire now."

Mitchell was evidently convinced, for he swore bitterly.

"I'm curious to know," Horace said, "how you came to hear that you
might expect to find diamonds hereabouts?"

"One of these breeds," said Mitchell sullenly, "got it from a brother
of his down by Hickson that a prospector had died here with a pocketful
of shiny stones that he'd picked up. I've prospected some myself. I
thought what these stones likely was, and I got together this crowd,
and--"

"We know the rest," said Peter. "You came on the same false scent that
we did." Then he turned to Horace, and whispered, "What in the world
are we going to do with these fellows?"

Horace wrinkled his brows in perplexity, and shook his head. "I don't
know," he said.

But whatever they did, they must first of all sleep. The fire in the
cabin had indeed burned out, but the place was so charred and smoky as
to be uninhabitable; so they built a huge camp-fire of logs on the
snow. Here they all passed the night,--there was not much left of
it,--and Peter, Fred, and Maurice took turns in staying awake in order
to watch the prisoners.

The next morning the boys prepared a great breakfast from the
recaptured provisions. They released the right hands of the captives,
to enable them to eat; the men showed no hostile spirit. Mitchell only
was sullen, as usual; the three French Canadians chatt