pparent that further progress was an impossibility
unless the pack-horses were abandoned, the half-breed turned aside, and,
after a final desperate scramble up the mountain-side, the party entered
a fairly open, level glade. Helen dismounted with the others.

"We're goin' to camp here for a while," announced Talpers, after a short
whispered conference with the half-breed. "You might as well make
yourself as comfortable as you can, but remember one thing--you'll be
shot if you try to get away or if you make any signals."

Helen leaned back against a tree-trunk, too weary to make answer, and
Talpers went to the assistance of McFann, who was taking off the packs
and saddles. The horses were staked out near at hand, where they could
get their fill of the luxuriant grass that carpeted the mountain-side
here. McFann brought water from a spring near at hand, and the trader
set out some food from one of the packs, though it was decided not to
build a fire to cook anything. Helen ate biscuits and bacon left from
the previous meal. While she was eating, McFann put up the little tent.
Then, after another conference with Talpers, the half-breed climbed a
rock which jutted out of the shoulder of the mountain not far from them.
His lithe figure was silhouetted against the reddening sky. Helen
wondered, as she looked up at him, if the rock had been used for
sentinel purposes in years gone by. Her reflections were broken in upon
by Talpers.

"That tent is yours," said the trader, in a low voice. "But before you
turn in I've got a few words to say to you. You haven't seemed to be as
much afraid of me on this trip as you was the other night at your
cabin."

"There's no reason why I should be," said Helen quietly. "You don't dare
harm me for several reasons."

"What are they?" sneered Talpers.

"Well, one reason is--Jim McFann. All I have to do to cause your
partnership to dissolve at once is to tell Jim that you found that money
on the man who was murdered and didn't divide."

Talpers winced.

"Furthermore, this business has practically made an outlaw of you. It
all depends on your treatment of me. I'm the collateral that may get you
back into the good graces of society."

Talpers wiped the sweat beads off his forehead.

"You don't want to be too sure of yourself," he growled, though with so
much lack of assurance that Helen was secretly delighted. "You want to
remember," went on the trader threateningly, "that any time we wa