his quarters, and was shared by
Bill. The bed was a mere pile of blankets spread out on a rough log
trestle which sufficiently raised it from the ground.

It was a mean enough habitation. But it was substantial. Furthermore,
it was weather-proof, which was all these men required. Then, too, it
was set up in a position on the higher ground whence it overlooked the
whole camp, with a full view of the sluices, and the operations going
on about them. Adjacent were the stores, and the kitchens, all
sheltered by projections of the rocky foreshore, so that substantial
cover against hostile attack was afforded them.

While Kars slept the defensive preparations he had designed were being
carried out feverishly under the watchful eyes of Bill and Abe Dodds,
with Joe Saunders a vigorous lieutenant. He had planned for every
possible emergency. Embankments of pay dirt were erected and
strengthened by green logs. Loopholes were arranged for concentrated
defence in any one direction. The water supply was there open to them,
direct from the river, which, in its turn, afforded them a safeguard
from a purely frontal attack. The Bell River Indians were no great
water men, so the chief defences were set up flanking along the shore.

Kars had spent a day and two nights in unceasing labor, and now, at
last, the claims of nature would no longer be denied. He had fallen
asleep literally at his work. So the watchful doctor had accepted the
responsibility. And the great body was left to the repose which made
so small a claim upon it.

There was no man who could fight harder than John Kars, there was no
man who could fight more intelligently. Just as no man could fight
fairer. He accepted all conditions as he found them, and met them as
necessity demanded. But all that was rugged in him remained untainted
through the years of his sojourn beyond the laws of civilization.
There were a hundred ways by which he could have hoped to survive. But
only one suited his temperament. Then he had closed the doors of
civilization behind him. He had metaphorically burnt his text-books,
if he ever really possessed any. He viewed nothing through the
pleasantly tinted glasses such as prevail where cities are swept and
garnished daily, and bodily comfort is counted more to be desired than
God-fear. He forgot that law and order must be paid for by a yearly
toll in currency. But he never failed to remember that a temple had
been raised in th