, his word has passed, his heart is strong and good, and he
knows not fear.

"Upon Moncrossen will fall the day of the Great Reckoning. And, in that
day, justice will be done, for he will stand face to face with M's'u'
Bill--The-Man-Who-Cannot-Die--the man whom Wa-ha-ta-na-ta has named
'The One Good White Man'!"

CHAPTER XXXIX

BILL'S WAY

"And, to think," whispered Mrs. Appleton as she wiped a tear from her
eye, after the half-breed's departure, "that in New York this same man
had earned the name of 'Broadway Bill, the sport'!"

"Yes," answered her husband; "but Broadway Bill has passed, and in his
place, out here in the big country, is Broadgauge Bill, the _man_! I
knew I was right, Margaret, by gad, I knew it! Look in his eye!"

Followed, then, in the little office, an hour of intimate conversation,
at the conclusion of which the two arose.

"Not a word to Ethel, remember," admonished the woman, and laughed
knowingly as her husband stooped and kissed her.

During the days that followed, Appleton and Sheridan, accompanied by
Blood River Jack, hunted from early morning until late evening, when
they would return, trail-weary and happy, to spend hours over the
cleaning and oiling of guns and the overhauling of gear.

Young Charlie was allowed to go on some of the shorter expeditions, but
for the most part he was to be found dogging the heels of Bill Carmody;
or perched upon a flour-barrel in the cook-shack, listening to the
tales of Daddy Dunnigan.

The ladies busied themselves with the care of the two rooms, with
useless needlework, and with dummy auction, varying the monotony with
daily excursions into the near-by forest in quest of spruce-gum and
pine-cones.

Since the morning Charlie had broken in so incontinently upon their
breakfast no reference had been made to Bill Carmody by any member of
the party; while the foreman pursued the even tenor of his way,
apparently as unconcerned by their existence as they were by his.

One afternoon as the ladies were starting upon one of their tramps they
came face to face with the foreman, who tipped his cap, bowed coldly,
and passed into the office, closing the door behind him.

Mrs. Appleton halted suddenly, glanced toward the building, and
retraced her steps. It was but a short distance, and Ethel walked back,
waiting at the door while her aunt entered their own apartment.

The girl watched abstractedly, thinking the older woman had returned
for some