just as he had told Cuthbert,
who had married the man her father picked out, only to suffer as all
ill-used wives do; until matters went too far and Alexander Gregory had
driven him out of the region.

This daughter then had enjoyed all that money could secure for her
during the few years she lived after her child came, so that the little
one must be looked upon as the heiress of all the old factor's wealth;
and he was said to have accumulated much of this world's goods during
his life on the Saskatchewan.

But this interested Owen not a particle, for he was quite free from any
desire to share in the old man's money.

Whoever this girl might be, she was welcome to all the factor possessed,
for he would never touch a penny, he was bound.

It made him writhe a little to think, however, that the child of one
daughter was rolling in wealth, so to speak, while he, the only issue of
the other marriage, was like the foxes and had hardly more than a hole
wherein to lay his head.

Still, she was a girl, while he as a hardy boy felt no need of
comfort--given a gun and some provisions and he feared not the desolate
places of the Great North Land; he had wrested many of Nature's secrets
from her bosom and could hold his own in the blizzard's blast as well as
the animals.

But he must get by himself to think all this over and fight the battle
again, this time for good and all--it might make a difference if there
were some one else besides the stern old factor, in whose veins ran the
same blood; yes, that was something he had never considered before.

So muttering some sort of an excuse to Eli he had wandered forth into
the night.

He, too, had heard of the arrival of the batteau from above, and
catching some casual words that were dropped knew there was trouble
ahead for the immediate future, since a company of rival fur gatherers
had swooped down upon ground that came within the jurisdiction of the
Fort Harmony post, though often in dispute, and refused to leave when
threatened by the agents of Gregory.

That might mean bloody war, for it so happened once in a while; and in
times past scenes of violence had marked many a meeting of these rival
companies.

Even this fact did not interest Owen to any extent just now.

At another time he might have felt his pulses thrill with eagerness, for
having spent his whole existence in this region, he was naturally
impregnated with the spirit that dominated the lives of those who