The watching woman made no attempt to escape, but somewhat to Stane's surprise, awaited his coming. As he drew nearer he was again startled to find that it was the girl whom he had talked with at Fort Malsun.  
"Miskodeed," he cried in surprise. "You! What are you doing here?"
 
"I come to warn thee," said the girl in her own dialect. "Once before I did that, and I was too late. But now I am in time."
 
"To warn me?" he echoed, still too surprised to say more.
 
"Yes," answered Miskodeed. "There are those who will seek to kill thee tonight."
 
"Tonight! But why?"
 
"I do not know, . The thing is hidden from me, but there is some one who means to ."
 
"Who is it?" asked Stane in sudden curiosity.
 
"It is the son of Chief George's sister—the man for whom the officer came to the encampment yesterday."
 
"Then he is at the camp, after all?"
 
"He was there when the officer came. The story which Chief George told about his departure to the Great Barrens was a lie."
 
"But why should he seek to kill me?"
 
"Have I not said I do not know fully? But he promises big things if thou are : rifles and the water that burns and makes men sing, and tea and molasses, and blankets for the women."
 
"But," protested Stane, "I have but one rifle and little spirit and tea. I am not worth , and Chief George must know that the law will take account of his doings, and that the grip of the law reaches right up to the Frozen Sea."
 
"He knows," answered the girl quietly, "but Chigmok—that is his sister's son—has filled him with a lying tale that the law will take no account of thee, and he believes, as Chigmok himself believes."
 
"But——" began Stane, and broke off as the girl lifted her hand.
 
"Chief George has seen the rifles, and the burning water, the box of tea and the bale of blankets, and his soul is hungry for them. He would kill more than thee to win them."
 
"And the—the man who is with me?"
 
A little flash came in the girl's dark eyes. "That man——" she said in a voice that had an edge like a knife, "tell me, is she thy squaw?"
 
"Then you know, Miskodeed?" he said, with a quick feeling of shame.
 
"I know that man is the bright-faced woman who came to Fort Malsun. Tell me, is she thy squaw?"
 
"No?" he answered sharply. "No!"
 
"Then what does she in thy ?"
 
"That is due to an accident. She drifted down to the great river, and I saved her from the water, and started to take her back to Fort Malsun. Our canoe was stolen in the night, and when we took the land-trail my leg was broken and we were delayed, and by the time I was fit for travel, winter was upon us, so we sought the cabin to wait for help. That is the explanation, and now tell me, Miskodeed, is the woman to die?"
 
"The bright-faced one is to be saved alive."
 
"Ah! That is an order?"
 
"It is necessary for the winning of the rifles, and the tea and the blankets."
 
Stane pursed his lips to whistle at the news. There was more behind it than appeared; and he knew that Chigmok the murderous half-breed was not the framer of the plot, however, he might be the instrument for its execution. He looked at the girl thoughtfully for a moment, and as he did so a soft look came in the wild, dark eyes that were regarding him intently.
 
"Canst thou not leave the bright-faced woman, and I will show thee a way through the woods. We will go together——"
 
"It is impossible! Quite impossible, Miskodeed," cried Stane almost violently.
 
He did not know that other ears than those to which they were addressed caught those words of . Helen Yardely, missing his presence about the cabin, had stepped out to look for him, and a of voices in the still air, had stood listening. The words, coupled with the girl's name, reached her quite clearly, and struck her like a blow. She did not wait to hear more, but retreated to the cabin, her cheeks burning with shame, her grey eyes bright with fierce scorn. She did not know to what the words referred, but, in her haste and she misinterpreted the situation, and her scorn was as much for herself as for Stane as she thought how she had grown to love a man who——
 
The thought was an intolerable one. She could not endure it, and she began fiercely to do a totally unnecessary task in the hope of driving it from her. That was impossible, and after a minute or two she seated herself in front of the stove and stared into its glow with eyes that flashed with anger and pain, the while she awaited Stane's return.
 
Meanwhile, the interview which had such fires within her had already come to an conclusion. For as Stane declined her suggestion Miskodeed lifted a warning finger.
 
"Hark!" she whispered.
 
Stane listened, as did the girl. Whatever sound had made her speak the word was hushed, and after a few seconds she again. "Then thou die for this bright-faced woman?"
 
"A thousand times!" he answered with quiet . "Understand, Miskodeed——"
 
He got no further. In the of the wood a fox barked sharply, and a second later the sound was repeated in two different directions.
 
"Ah," cried the Indian girl, "They come. Thou art too late. Thou wilt die for thy bright-faced woman now—once."
 
A second later she turned away, and began to walk rapidly between the trees. Stane did not stand to watch her go. Without an instant's delay he made for the cabin at a run, and as he entered it, breathing rather heavily, he flung to the door and dropped the wooden bar in place. Then without a word he walked to the window and it as he had done on the previous night. Helen still seated by the stove looked at him in some wonder, and he offered what to him appeared a sufficient explanation.
 
"Last night when we returned a fox barked in the wood, and a little after some one shot an arrow to kill me. Just now three foxes barked in quick succession in different directions, and as I have not seen a fox since we came here, I think it is as well to take precautions."
 
To his surprise Helen offered no comment, but sat there as if waiting for further explanations. He offered none. Being of his companion's knowledge of his interview with Miskodeed he had to keep the incident to himself, and not to alarm her more than was necessary. Seating himself, he lit a pipe, and as his companion showed no to talk, fell into thought. There was a rather strained, look on his face, and as the girl glanced at him once she wondered resentfully what thoughts accounted for it. His silence about the Indian girl told against him in her mind. If there had been nothing to be ashamed of in his relations with Miskodeed why had he not spoken openly of the incident in the wood? Jealousy, it was recorded of old, is as cruel as the grave, and as the hot flame of it grew in her heart, she almost hated the girl who was the occasion of it.
 
As a matter of sober fact, Stane was thinking little of Miskodeed herself, but much of the information she had brought. Whilst he kept his ears open for any unusual sounds outside the cabin, his mind was trying to probe the mystery behind the attack that, as he was sure, was preparing. Who was the inspirer of it, and why should his death be designed, whilst his companion must be spared? Miskodeed had spoken of the price that was to be paid for the attack—rifles and spirit, tea, molasses and blankets. The nature of the was such as would any tribe in the North and was also such as implied a white man in the background. But who was the white man who so chose his instruments for a deed from which he himself shrank? The question perplexed him, and a deep manifested itself between his eyes as he strove to answer it. Ainley? He with the thought for a little time, and then dismissed it. Ainley was afraid of him and shrank from meeting him, but he would hardly go to such lengths as Miskodeed's statement implied; nor would he involve Helen Yardely's life in the extreme risk incidental to an attack in force on the cabin. It was unthinkable!
 
His mind sought other explanations. Was there some other man, some white man who had seen Helen and by this means hoped to secure her for himself? The thought was . Then a new thought leaped up. The reward Sir James was offering for his niece's recovery! Had some man his eye on that—some unscrupulous adventurer, who fearing possibly that he himself might claim a share in it, proposed to get rid of him that the............