ill I give of tobacco five long plugs.

'Thus will his mouth be wetted that he may make much noise in the
council. But to the Bear, of whom I am well proud, will I give of
blankets two; of flour, twenty cups; of tobacco, double that of the
Fox; and if he fare with me over the Mountains of the East, then will I
give him a rifle, mate to Thling-Tinneh's. If not? Good! The Wolf is
weary of speech. Yet once again will he say the Law: Whoso taketh the
life of one Wolf, the forfeit shall ten of his people pay.'

Mackenzie smiled as he stepped back to his old position, but at heart
he was full of trouble. The night was yet dark. The girl came to his
side, and he listened closely as she told of the Bear's battle-tricks
with the knife.

The decision was for war. In a trice, scores of moccasins were widening
the space of beaten snow by the fire. There was much chatter about the
seeming defeat of the Shaman; some averred he had but withheld his
power, while others conned past events and agreed with the Wolf. The
Bear came to the center of the battle-ground, a long naked
hunting-knife of Russian make in his hand. The Fox called attention to
Mackenzie's revolvers; so he stripped his belt, buckling it about
Zarinska, into whose hands he also entrusted his rifle. She shook her
head that she could not shoot,--small chance had a woman to handle such
precious things.

'Then, if danger come by my back, cry aloud, "My husband!" No; thus,
"My husband!"'

He laughed as she repeated it, pinched her cheek, and reentered the
circle. Not only in reach and stature had the Bear the advantage of
him, but his blade was longer by a good two inches. 'Scruff' Mackenzie
had looked into the eyes of men before, and he knew it was a man who
stood against him; yet he quickened to the glint of light on the steel,
to the dominant pulse of his race.

Time and again he was forced to the edge of the fire or the deep snow,
and time and again, with the foot tactics of the pugilist, he worked
back to the center. Not a voice was lifted in encouragement, while his
antagonist was heartened with applause, suggestions, and warnings. But
his teeth only shut the tighter as the knives clashed together, and he
thrust or eluded with a coolness born of conscious strength. At first
he felt compassion for his enemy; but this fled before the primal
instinct of life, which in turn gave way to the lust of slaughter. The
ten thousand years of culture fell from him, and he w