ble, and Dane glanced at Colonel Barrington,
who nodded when he returned it unopened.

"We will pass it without counting. You accept the charge, sir?" he
said.

"Yes," said Barrington gravely. "It seems it is forced on me. Well,
we will glance through the statement."

For at least ten minutes nobody spoke, and then Dane said. "There are
prairie farmers who would consider what he is leaving behind him a
competence."

"If this agreement, which was apparently verbal, is confirmed by
Courthorne, the entire sum rightfully belongs to the man he made his
tenant," said Barrington, and Macdonald smiled gravely as he glanced at
Winston.

"I think we can accept the statement that it was made without question,
sir," he said.

Winston shook his head. "I claim one thousand dollars as the fee of my
services, and they should be worth that much, but I will take no more."

"Are we not progressing a little too rapidly, sir?" said Dane. "It
seems to me we have yet to decide whether it is necessary that the man
who has done so much for us should leave Silverdale."

Winston smiled a trifle grimly. "I think," he said, "that question
will very shortly be answered for you."

Macdonald held his hand up, and a rapid thud of hoofs came faintly
through the silence.

"Troopers! They are coming here," he said.

"Yes," said Winston. "I fancy they will relieve you from any further
difficulty."

Dane strode to one of the windows, and glanced at Colonel Barrington as
he pulled back the catch. Winston, however, shook his head, and a
little flush crept into Dane's bronzed face.

"Sorry. Of course you are right," he said. "It will be better that
they should acquit you."

No one moved for a few more minutes, and then with a trooper behind him
Sergeant Stimson came in, and laid his hand on Winston's shoulder.

"I have a warrant for your apprehension, farmer Winston," he said.
"You probably know the charge against you."

"Yes," said Winston simply. "I hope to refute it. I will come with
you."

He went out, and Barrington stared at the men about him. "I did not
catch the name before. That was the man who shot the police trooper in
Alberta?"

"No, sir," said Dane, very quietly. "Nothing would induce me to
believe it of him!"

Barrington looked at him in bewilderment. "But he must have
done--unless," he said, and ended with a little gasp. "Good Lord!
There was the faint resemblance, and they changed horses--it is
hor