a single
sweep of his powerful arm he flung her back so that she fell to the
earth. With a wild curse he lifted the bar of the cage door.

"I will kill him, now; I will KILL him!" he almost shrieked. "And it is
YOU--YOU--you she-devil! who shall eat his heart alive! I will force it
down your throat: I will--"

He was dragging Miki forth by the chain. The club rose as Miki's head
came through. In another instant it would have beaten his head to a
pulp--but Nanette was between it and the dog like a flash, and the blow
went wild. It was with his fist that Le Beau struck out now, and the
blow caught Nanette on the shoulder and sent her frail body down with a
crash. The Brute sprang upon her. His fingers gripped in her thick,
soft hair.

And then--

From Durant came a warning cry. It was too late. A lean gray streak of
vengeance and retribution, Miki was at the end of his chain and at Le
Beau's throat. Nanette HEARD! Through dazed eyes she SAW! She reached
out gropingly and struggled to her feet, and looked just once down upon
the snow. Then, with a terrible cry, she staggered toward the cabin.

When Durant gathered courage to drag Le Beau out of Miki's reach Miki
made no movement to harm him. Again, perhaps, it was the Beneficent
Spirit that told him his duty was done. He went back into his cage, and
lying there on his belly looked forth at Durant.

And Durant, looking at the blood-stained snow and the dead body of The
Brute, whispered to himself again:

"MON DIEU! he is a devil!"

In the cabin, Nanette was upon her knees before the crucifix.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

There are times when death is a shock, but not a grief. And so it was
with Nanette Le Beau. With her own eyes she had looked upon the
terrible fate of her husband, and it was not in her gentle soul to weep
or wish him alive again. At last there had overtaken him what LE BON
DIEU had intended him to receive some day: justice. And for the baby's
sake more than her own Nanette was not sorry. Durant, whose soul was
only a little less wicked than the dead man's, had not even waited for
a prayer--had not asked her what to do. He had chopped a hole in the
frozen earth and had buried Le Beau almost before his body was cold.
And Nanette was not sorry for that. The Brute was gone. He was gone for
ever. He would never strike her again. And because of the baby she
offered up a prayer of gratitude to God.

In his prison-cage of sapling bars Miki cringed on h