e Indian dialects.

"No," answered Charlie.

"_Nee-a-poos?_" (Burroughs?)

"No."

"Whose?" was the next question in Blackfoot.

"I don't know."

"You'll get six months in the guard-room if they get you."

"I s'pose so," was the reluctant admission. The prospect was not
pleasing.

"Then Burroughs have Pine Coulee all time!"

"What'd you mean?" thundered Charlie, effectually interested.

"Burroughs give Pine Coulee a new dress--new beads--new blanket," was
the candid reply.

The teamster was stricken dumb. He made no comment on the gossip, but
when it came his turn to be examined before Colonel Macleod, he swore
that Burroughs was the owner of the seized liquor and that he had been
employed to drive these men North. In every way he could, he offset the
perjured testimony of Bill, who posed as the victim of circumstantial
evidence.

The commandant-magistrate was puzzled. Me-Casto had testified that he
had heard Burroughs in one of the lodges, arranging for the _caching_ of
expected whiskey, in one of the cut banks of the river. The teamster
corroborated the Indian. Wild Cat Bill and Burroughs swore that neither
owned the confiscated liquor. Colonel Macleod knew nothing of Charlie or
Bill; but he considered the standing of Burroughs, also the
unreliability of most Indians' testimony, and finally acquitted
Burroughs unconditionally, while declaring Bill and Charlie guilty of
smuggling, and he sentenced them accordingly. Burroughs promptly
furnished the money for the payment of Bill's fine, and Latimer,
believing Charlie's tale, loaned him money to escape the guard-room.

* * * * *

Great was the rejoicing in Burroughs' post that night. Long after
midnight Bill waited for a moment with his chief.

"I done the best I could, Bob," he said dejectedly, when they were at
last alone. "'F Phil Danvers hadn't been along I'd 'a' made it."

"I'll get even with him," growled Burroughs.

"The Police mos' caught us red-handed," explained Bill. "We hadn't
more'n got the pitchforks back in the stable when they rode up."

"Say no more about it, Bill," suggested Bob. The smuggler looked
comforted.

"Danvers is all right," mused Bill, while his friend prepared a drink.

"Is that so?" queried Bob with unpleasant emphasis.

"You're as cocky as a rooster," expostulated the other. "Phil Danvers
has swore to do his duty--an' he does it. The most of us is on the make
up here, an' the Police'