ie! They tore him from
me--don't let them get him away!"

"Stop, you rascals!" the factor yelled loudly. "We must have that man!"

No attention was paid to the command, and lifting his musket, he pointed
it at the squirming mass of savages in the gateway. There was a sudden
flash, a stunning report, and one of the rearmost Indians dropped.

"My God! what have I done?" cried Griffith Hawke, his face turning pale.
"It was an accident--my finger slipped. Don't fire, men!"

The dead or wounded Indian had already been picked up by his comrades,
and only a crimson stain was left on the snow to mark where he had
fallen. The next instant the whole band were outside the stockade
yelling like fiends, and with a crash some of our men flung the big
gates to and barred them. A couple ran to the loopholes and peered out.

"The varmints are in retreat," cried one--"making for the woods on the
north."

"And it's a dead body they're carrying with them, sure enough," shouted
the other.

By this time the fort was in a tumult, and a crowd surrounded the factor
and myself, clamoring to know the cause of the disturbance. So soon as
Griffith Hawke could quiet them a little, I told all that I knew, and
produced the strip of birch bark. It was passed about from hand to hand.

"You read the message right--I know something of Indian character
writing," said the factor. "Doubtless Gray Moose sent it. A Northwest
Company's man in the fort as a spy! It is a thousand pities he got away!
But are you certain, Denzil, that he was a white man?"

"I am sure of it," I replied, "and the fact that the Indians rescued him
so promptly--"

"Yes; that proves the existence of some sort of a conspiracy," the
factor interrupted. "But do you know that the spy was Cuthbert
Mackenzie?"

"I could not swear to it," I admitted, "but I am pretty well satisfied
in my own mind."

Some of the men were for sallying out to pursue and capture the Indians,
but Griffith Hawke prudently refused to permit this.

"Let well enough alone," he said. "A large force of savages may be
lurking in the forest, and there will be trouble soon enough as it is. I
regret the unfortunate accident by which I shot one of the Indians, for
it will inflame them all the more against us. It is certain, I fear,
that they have been won over by the Northwest people, and that they
meditated an early attack on the fort. Thank God, that we got wind of it
in time! Come what may, we can hold out