who, with the guns of dead men hidden in a tepee,
have traded their fur and put their blood upon the head of another. Do
you believe Jean Marcel when he says that Piquet killed Antoine Beaulieu
and went out to kill him also, or do you believe the men who stole the
guns and fur of a dead man which belong to his kinsmen?"

"_Enh! Enh!_ Jean Marcel speaks truth!" cried the Crees, and the
chattering mob poured into the post clearing to carry the news to the
curious young men and the women, who waited.

Meanwhile Pere Breton embraced the happy Marcel while the unchecked
tears welled in Julie's eyes. Then Gillies and McCain wrung the
Frenchman's hand until he grimaced. But the big Jules, patiently waiting
his turn, pounced upon Jean with a fierce hug and, in spite of his
protests carrying him like a child in his great arms from the
trade-house, showed the man they had maligned, to the Crees, who now
loudly cheered him.

Turning to Gillies, the Inspector said gravely: "These Lelacs go south
for trial. I'll make an example of their thieving."

But Colin Gillies had no intention of having the half-breeds sent
"outside" for trial, if he could prevent it. It would mean that Jean and
he, himself, with Jules, would have to go as witnesses. He could take
care of the Lelacs in his own way. He had punished men before.

"That would leave us very short-handed here. The famine has reduced the
trade this year a third. If we want to make a showing next season, we
can't spend six months travelling down below for a trial."

"Yes, that would mean your going and we can't afford to injure the
trade; but I ought to make a report on this murder business in famine
years."

"If you get the government into this, it will hurt us, Mr. Wallace. Why
can't we handle this matter as we have handled it for two centuries?"
protested Gillies. "A report will only place the Company in a bad
light--make them think we can't control the Crees."

"Well, perhaps you're right," admitted Wallace. "I'm out to make a
showing on the East Coast and I don't want to handicap you."

So Gillies had his way.

CHAPTER XXVIII

BITTER-SWEET

To Jean Marcel it had been a happy moment--that of his exoneration by
the hunters of Whale River. For weeks, with rage in his heart, he had
silently borne the black looks of the Crees whom he could not avoid in
going to his net and crossing the post clearing to the trade-house. For
weeks his name had been a byword at th