es that
writhed almost at his feet, overturning boxes and bales in their
struggles.

"He'll kill Oskar! He's bigger----"

"Not by a damn sight, he won't!" roared McNabb. "Look at um! Look at
um! Oskar's on top! Give him hell, lad!"

Jean had ceased her protest, and to her own intense surprise she found
herself leaning forward, watching every move. She cried out with pain
when Wentworth's fist brought the blood from Oskar's nose, and she
applauded when Hedin's last three blows landed with vicious thuds
against the engineer's upturned chin.

Hedin rose to his feet and held the handkerchief to his bleeding nose.
McNabb's hand gripped his shoulder. "Ye done fine, lad! Ye done
fine!" he exclaimed.

Dropping to his knees, Hedin slipped his hand into the unconscious
man's pocket and withdrew a key which he tossed to one of the Company
Indians who had come running in at the sound of battle. "Here, Joe
Irish," he said, "go to the cabin and unlock the trunk that is there
and bring back the coat of fur."

A few moments later Hedin handed the garment to McNabb. "Here is your
missing coat," he said, as Jean threw her arm about his shoulder.

"Oskar, dear--" she whispered, and the next moment Hedin's arms were
about her and she could feel the wild pounding of his heart against her
breast.

There was a movement on the floor near their feet, and releasing the
girl Hedin reached swiftly down. McNabb's hand stayed him before he
could seize hold of Wentworth, who was crawling toward the door.

"Let him go, lad," advised the old man. "We've got the coat.
An'--an'--we're all happy!"

"But the money? He's got the three hundred and fifty thousand!" cried
Hedin.

McNabb grinned. "Suppose we just let Orcutt worry about that," he said.

"I told you Oskar was innocent!" cried Jean triumphantly, as the door
closed behind the slinking form of Wentworth. "I told you so from the
first! I just knew he never took that coat!"

McNabb's eyes were twinkling. "I knew it, too, lass," he answered.
"That's why I bailed him out an' sent him up here with two hundred an'
fifty thousand dollars in negotiable paper in his pocket to close this
deal for me."

"And you knew all the time," cried the girl, staring at her father in
amazement, "when Orcutt was gloating over you back there, that you, and
not he, owned the timber? And you let him go on and humiliate you to
your face!"

"Sure I did," grinned McNabb. "He was havin' the