s weapon that he
failed to notice that the cartridges which were being placed in his own
rifle had had their bullets carefully drawn, while his original
cartridges reposed snugly in the pocket of the half-breed's mackinaw.

"Tell y' what I'll do," said Creed, speaking in a tone of the utmost
generosity. "Give me ten dollars to boot, an' we'll call it a trade."

Jacques laughed loudly and, handing the other his rifle, picked up his
own.

"We must be goin'," he observed, and rose to his feet.

"Better have 'nother drink 'fore y' go," said Creed, tendering the
bottle. They drank around and Creed returned the bottle to its cache,
while the others took their places in the canoe.

"Make it five, then," Creed extended the rifle as though giving it
away.

Jacques shook his head, and pushed the canoe out into the stream.

The man on shore eyed the widening strip of water between the bank and
the canoe.

"I'll make it three, seein' ye're so hell-bent on a trade," he called.
But his only answer was a loud laugh as the canoe disappeared around a
sharp bend of the river.

Creed resumed his position with his back against the ends of the logs.

At a point some fifty feet up-stream from the diminutive rollway, and
about the same distance from the shore, a blackened snag thrust its
ugly head above the surface of the water, and against this snag
brushwood and drift had collected and was held by the push of the
stream which gurgled merrily among its interstices.

Creed's gaze, resting momentarily upon this miniature island, failed
entirely to note that it concealed a man who stood immersed in the
river from his neck down, and eyed him keenly through narrowed gray
eyes; and that also this man was doing a most peculiar thing.

Reaching into the pocket of his water-soaked shirt he withdrew several
long, steel-jacketed bullets and, holding them in the palm of his hand,
grinned broadly.

Then, one by one, he placed them in his mouth, drew a long breath, and
dived. The water at this point was about four feet in depth and the man
swam rapidly, close to the bottom.

Creed's glance, roving idly over the river, was arrested by a quick
commotion upon the surface of the water almost directly in front of
him.

He seized his rifle and leaped to his feet, hoping for a shot at a
stray otter. The next instant the rifle slipped from his nerveless
fingers and struck upon the ground with a muffled thud.

Instead of an otter he was lookin