f the glade. McFann had been looking down
the valley from the sentinel rock. She did not hear him come into camp,
as the half-breed always moved silently through underbrush that would
betray the presence of any one less skilled in woodcraft. She heard his
monosyllabic answers to Talpers's questions. Then Bill himself pushed
his way through the underbrush and climbed the rock. When he returned to
the camp he came to the tent.

"I don't mind tellin' you that Plenty Buffalo is out there on the trail,
with an Injun policeman or two. That young agent don't seem to have had
nerve enough to come along," said Talpers, producing a small rope. "I'll
have to tie your hands awhile, just to make sure you don't try gittin'
away. I'm goin' to tell 'em that at the first sign of rushin' the camp
you're goin' to be shot. What's more I'm goin' to mean what I tell 'em."

Talpers tied Helen's hands behind her. He left the flaps of the tent
open as he picked up his rifle and returned to McFann, who was sitting
on a log, composedly enough, keeping watch of the other end of the glade
where the trail entered. Helen sank to her knees, with her back to the
rear of the tent, so she could command a better view. The tent had been
staked down securely around the edges, so there was no opportunity for
her to crawl under.

Apparently the two men in the glade, as Helen saw them through the
inverted V of the open tent flaps, were most peacefully inclined. They
sat smoking and talking, and, from all outward appearances, might have
been two hunters talking over the day's prospects. Suddenly they sprang
to their feet, and, with rifles in readiness, looked toward the trail,
which was hidden from Helen's vision.

"Don't come any nearer, Plenty Buffalo," called Talpers, in Indian
language. "If you try to rush the camp, the first thing we'll do is to
kill this girl. The only thing for you to do is to go back."

Then followed a short colloquy, Helen being unable to hear Plenty
Buffalo's voice.

Evidently he was well down the trail, hidden in the trees, and was
making no further effort to approach. The men sat down again, watching
the trail and evidently figuring out their plan of escape. There was no
means of scaling the mountain wall behind them. Horses could not
possibly climb that steep slope, covered with such a tangle of trees and
undergrowth, but it was possible to proceed farther along the upper edge
of the valley until finally timber-line was reach