him well, like
Doret, were aware of his great strength and the endurance that belied
his appearance.

"We will send Necia down to the Mission to-night, and let Father Barnum
keep her there till this man goes," said the squaw, after some
deliberation.

"No, she must stay here," Gale replied, with decision. "The man has
come here to live, so it won't do any good to send her away, and, after
all, what is to be will be. But she must never be seen in that
dance-girl's dress again, at least, not till I learn more about this
Stark. It makes no difference whether this one is the man or not; he
will come and I shall know him. For a year I have felt that the time
was growing short, and now I know it."

"No, no!" Alluna cried; "we have no strangers here. No white men except
the soldiers and this one have come in a year. This is but a little
trading-post."

"It was yesterday, but it isn't to-day. Lee has made a strike--like the
one George Carmack made on the Klondike. He came to tell me and Poleon,
and we are going back with him to-night, but you must say nothing or it
will start a stampede."

"Other men will come--a great many of them?" interrogated Alluna,
fearfully, ignoring utterly the momentous news.

"Yes. Flambeau will be another Dawson if this find is what Lee thinks
it is. I stayed away from the Upper Country because I knew crowds of
men would come from the States, and I feared that he might be among
them; but it's no use hiding any longer, there's no other place for us
to go. If Lee has got a mine, I'll have the one next to it, for we will
be the first ones on the ground. What happens after that won't matter
much, you four will be provided for. We are to leave in an hour, one at
a time, to avoid comment."

"But why did this man stop here?" insisted the woman. "Why did he not
stay on the steamboat and go to Dawson?"

"He's a friend of Lee's. He is going with us." Then he added, almost in
a whisper, "Before we return I shall know."

Alluna seized his arm. "Promise to come back, John! Promise that you
will come back even if this should be the man."

"I promise. Don't worry, little woman; I'm not ready for a reckoning
yet."

He gave her certain instructions about the store, charging her in
particular to observe the utmost secrecy regarding the strike, else she
might precipitate a premature excitement which would go far towards
ruining his and Poleon's chances. All of which she noted; then, as he
turned away, s