etty good?" he inquired by and by.

"I'm glad to say they are, though I thought I was in for trouble,"
Stanton said with a deprecatory smile. "I allow that frost-bite's a thing
I'm easy scared about, after the patrol I made with Stafford through the
northern bush last winter. Got his foot wet with mushy snow crossing a
rapid where the ice was working, and it froze bad; had to pack him the
last two hundred miles on the sled, with the dogs getting used up, and
the grub running out. They paid him off at Regina and sent him home; but
Stafford will never put on an ordinary boot again."

"A frozen foot's bad enough, if you have to walk until it galls," Curtis
admitted. "A hand's easier looked after, though I've three fingers I'm
never quite sure of. That's one reason it took so much shooting before I
plugged Glover's horse."

"You were pretty cute about his jacket," Stanton remarked.

"That was easy enough. The thing was too big for him and newer than his
trousers. Soon as I noticed it, I knew I'd dropped on to something worth
following up."

"I can't see what you made of it, and you haven't told me yet."

"I was too dog-goned cold and tired to talk; wanted to make the post and
get to sleep. However, though I gave Crane's boys no hint, I'll show you
what I've been figuring on. Consider yourself a jury and tell me how it
strikes you. You have as much intelligence as the general run of them."

"If I hadn't any more than the kind of jurymen we're usually up against,
I'd quit the service," Stanton declared.

The corporal's eyes twinkled.

"If you'll learn to think and not hustle, you'll make a useful man some
day. Anyhow, the first thing I caught on to was that Glover had taken off
his jacket because there was something in it he didn't want us to find.
Next, that it was money or valuables, because he could have put any small
thing into the stove or hid it in the snow before he lit out. Now, Glover
knew it was kind of dangerous to leave his jacket with Jepson, who might
find the bills, and as he couldn't tell you were in the ravine he must
have thought he had a good chance of getting clear away; but, for all
that, he wouldn't risk taking the wad along. Guess there's only one
explanation--he'd a reason for being mighty afraid of those bills falling
into our hands. That was plain enough when I asked him about his jacket."

"Yes," Stanton said thoughtfully; "I guess you have got it right. But
what was his reason? He knows C