us.
We leaped to our feet with such haste that several of the benches wore
knocked over, and Christopher Burley, who was in the act of sitting down
at the time, landed on the floor with a heavy crash. But there was no
occasion for alarm--no need to rush frantically for our muskets. The
intruder was not an Indian, not an enemy. In the open doorway, framed
against the whiteness of the storm, stood a big, bearded man clad in the
winter uniform of the Hudson Bay Company.

And the moment I saw him I recognized an old acquaintance--a hunter who
had of late years served at Fort Charter.

"Tom Arnold!" I cried gladly, as I hurried forward to greet him.

"By Jupiter, if it ain't Carew!" he shouted, clasping my hand. Turning
round, he called loudly: "Come in, boys, it's all right!"

At the bidding five more men stamped noisily into the house, shaking the
snow from their clothing, and dragging a well-laden sledge behind them.

"I left these chaps outside, not knowing who might be in the fort," Tom
explained; "but when I listened a bit I reckoned it was safe to enter. I
heard a couple of voices that sounded kind of familiar. And no mistake
either! We're in luck to find friends and shelter at one stroke. What a
snug place you've got here!"

A scene of merriment and excitement followed, and hands were clasped all
round; for the most of our party and of the new arrivals were acquainted
with one another, even Captain Rudstone finding a friend or two.

After a generous glass of wine, Tom Arnold lit his pipe, stretched his
feet to the blazing logs, and volunteered explanations, which we had
been waiting anxiously to hear. He and his party, it seemed, had left
Fort Charter on a hunting trip three days before. On the previous night
they had chosen a poor camping-place--it afforded little shelter against
the storm, and so, in the morning, they determined to try to reach old
Fort Beaver.

"That's my yarn," Tom concluded, "and now let's have yours, Carew. What
are you doing in this part of the country, and with a pretty girl in
tow?"

As briefly as possible I related all that had happened, from the swift
beginning of trouble at Fort Royal to the night when we escaped by the
secret passage. Every word of it was new to Tom and his companions, and
they listened with breathless interest and dilated eyes, with hoarse
exclamations of rage and grief. And when the narrative was finished a
gloom fell upon all of us.

"So the country is qui