. He knew too much, and he was
eager to tell all he knew.

Macdonald's lieutenant got busy at once with plans to abduct Holt. That
it was very much against the law did not disturb him much so long as his
chief stood back of him. The unsupported word of the old man would not
stand in court, and if he became obstreperous they could always have him
locked up as a lunatic. The very pose of the old miner--the make-believe
pretension that he was half a fool--would lend itself to such a charge.

"We'll send the old man off on a prospecting trip with some of the
boys," explained Selfridge to Rowland. "That way we'll kill two birds.
He's back on his assessment work. The time limit will be up before he
returns and we'll start a contest for the claim."

Howland made no comment. He was an engineer and not a politician. In his
position it was impossible for him not to know that a good deal about
the legal status of the Macdonald claims was irregular. But he was a
firm believer in a wide-open Alaska, in the use of the Territory by
those who had settled it. The men back of the big Scotchman were going
to spend millions in development work, in building railroads. It would
help labor and business. The whole North would feel a healthful reaction
from the Kamatlah activities. So, on the theory that the end sometimes
justifies doubtful means, he shut his eyes to many acts that in his own
private affairs he would not have countenanced.

"Better arrange it with Big Bill, then, but don't tell me anything about
it. I don't want to know the details," he told Selfridge.

Big Bill Macy accepted the job with a grin. There was double pay in it
both for him and the men he chose as his assistants. He had never liked
old Holt anyhow. Besides, they were not going to do him any harm.

Holt was baking a batch of sour-dough bread that evening when there came
a knock at the cabin door. At sight of Big Bill and his two companions
the prospector closed the oven and straightened with alert suspicion.
He was not on visiting terms with any of these men. Why had they come
to see him? He asked point-blank the question in his mind.

"We're going prospecting up Wild-Goose Creek, and we want you to go
along, Gid," explained Macy. "You're an old sour-dough miner, and we-all
agree we'd like to have you throw-in with us. What say?"

The old miner's answer was direct but not flattering. "What do I want to
go on a wild-goose mush with a bunch of bums for?" he shri