at, which was
frozen solid as a board, he hung on the rafters of the cabin, which
themselves were white with frost.

The short day had almost ended when he had completed these tasks, and
he was about to enter the cabin, when through the dusk he caught sight
of a figure, standing among the trees openly watching him. The garb
proclaimed the figure to be that of a woman, and for a moment he was
utterly startled. Then, acting on impulse, he started to walk towards
the watcher, his unmittened hand on the butt of the pistol at his hip.

CHAPTER XVII

THE ATTACK

The watching woman made no attempt to escape, but somewhat to Stane's
surprise, awaited his coming. As he drew nearer he was again startled
to find that it was the girl whom he had talked with at Fort Malsun.

"Miskodeed," he cried in surprise. "You! What are you doing here?"

"I come to warn thee," said the girl in her own dialect. "Once before I
did that, and I was too late. But now I am in time."

"To warn me?" he echoed, still too surprised to say more.

"Yes," answered Miskodeed. "There are those who will seek to kill thee
tonight."

"Tonight! But why?"

"I do not know, fully. The thing is hidden from me, but there is some
one who means to slay."

"Who is it?" asked Stane in sudden curiosity.

"It is the son of Chief George's sister--the man for whom the officer
came to the encampment yesterday."

"Then he is at the camp, after all?"

"He was there when the officer came. The story which Chief George told
about his departure to the Great Barrens was a lie."

"But why should he seek to kill me?"

"Have I not said I do not know fully? But he promises big things if
thou are slain: rifles and the water that burns and makes men sing, and
tea and molasses, and blankets for the women."

"But," protested Stane, "I have but one rifle and little spirit and
tea. I am not worth plundering, and Chief George must know that the law
will take account of his doings, and that the grip of the law reaches
right up to the Frozen Sea."

"He knows," answered the girl quietly, "but Chigmok--that is his
sister's son--has filled him with a lying tale that the law will take
no account of thee, and he believes, as Chigmok himself believes."

"But----" began Stane, and broke off as the girl lifted her hand.

"Chief George has seen the rifles, and the burning water, the box of
tea and the bale of blankets, and his soul is hungry for them. He would
kill more th