room, and lie quiet
under the bed."

Donald sprang from his seat and did as he was directed. He was not a
moment too soon.

The police knocked smartly at the door.

The woman opened it.

"Have you got Morrison here?" McMahon asked.

"Look and see," the woman replied.

The two men searched the four rooms of the small house, and then they
sat down upon the bed beneath which, close to the wall, Donald was
concealed!

"There's no use in stopping here," Leroyer said.

"No," replied McMahon, "we may as well go." As he spoke he carelessly
ran the butt end of his rifle under the bed!

Donald grew to the wall, and held his breath!

The rifle conveyed no sense of contact. It was thrust in without
conscious motive.

The police took their departure.

"What a narrow escape!" Donald said, when he had emerged from his
hiding-place. His face showed pale beneath the bronze. The perspiration
stood in beads upon his brow.

The friendly creature who sheltered him trembled like an aspen.

She had expected discovery, arrest, perhaps even bloodshed. She felt all
a woman's exaggerated horror of police, and law, and violence.

"Forgive me," Donald said, "for coming near the house. I'll not trouble
you again."

CHAPTER XXXV. ANOTHER TRUCE ASKED FOR.

The friends of the outlaw made a last effort to bring about an
accommodation. A noted lawyer in Toronto had been written to, and had
offered to defend him. They went to Donald, showed him the letter, and
peremptorily insisted that he should give himself up, or be content to
have all his friends desert him.

Perhaps the outlaw realized at last how severely he had tried his
friends' patience.

"Very well," he said, "I agree to give myself up. Tell the police, and
get them to suspend operations. Come back here and let me know what they
say."

Detective Carpenter was seen, and the situation explained to him.

"Well," said he, "I don't believe in truces with outlaws. This thing has
lasted long enough. But if you can rely upon this new attitude of the
outlaw's, I would not be averse to a short suspension, though, if my men
meet him before your next interview, they will certainly do their best
to capture him."

Carpenter had placed two men--McMahon and Pete Leroyer (an Indian
scout)--close to the outlaw's home, and told them to watch for him
entering, and capture him at all hazards.

Carpenter knew that Donald must get his changes of clothing at his
father's, and that