mined and thoroughly-trained
body of men speeding forth on her behalf than did Jean Sterling that
night in the heart of the great northern forest.

For a little over half an hour the Indians continued on their way, up
hill and down, with no abatement to their speed. At length, after
climbing a higher hill than usual, they paused on the eastern slope and
held a low-whispered consultation. This took but a few minutes, and
when they again advanced it was not in single file, but spread out to
the right and left like two wings, with Sam in the centre. Down in the
valley were the slashers, and toward them they moved, silently and
stealthily as the panther stalking its prey. With bent, crouching
bodies, and every sense keenly alert, they glided toward the
unsuspecting slashers. Nearer and nearer they approached, and at
length when the light of a camp fire winged its way into the forest
depths, they lessened their speed, dropped upon their hands and knees,
crept cautiously forward, and then stopped but a bow-shot away. Here
they remained as silent and rigid as the great trees, keenly observing
all that was taking place before them.

Near the fire about twenty-five men were gathered, talking in the most
animated manner. They were an evil-looking group of creatures, dirty,
unshaven, their clothes ill-fitting and torn. They formed the dregs of
the wild, lower than the Indians and the dumb beasts of the trails.
They were parasites, a menace to law and order. Honor was unknown
among them, and the purity of such a girl as Jean Sterling only aroused
the base passions within them. The rangers they feared, as well as the
Indians who were loyal to King George. They were cunning woodsmen,
subtle as the serpent, and sly as the fox. They were hard to catch,
being in one place to-day, and miles away the next. When food was
plentiful they were gluttons, but when it was scarce they starved for
days. They had a craze for rum, and when drunk they were ugly, maudlin
brutes. They were fond of a fight, and fought like demons on the
slightest pretext.

Only one thing seriously affected them, and that was a superstitious
fear. It hounded them wherever they went, as is so often the case with
low, base minds. They had signs many, in the heavens above and the
earth beneath, and to these were slaves. Therefore, when they saw Seth
Lupin lying dead on the bank of the river with the marks of the
clutching fingers upon his throat, some t