-wood bottoms, he bade them adieu.

"No, I got to get back to the Bar X, or the old man'll swear I been
drinking again, and I don't want to dissipate no wrong impressions
around." He winked gravely. Then, as the sheriff and his surly
prisoners drove off, he called:

"Mr. Turney, take good care of them Trempers. I think a heap of 'em,
for, outside of your wife, they're the only ones in this outfit that
didn't laugh at me."

THE TEST

Pierre "Feroce" showed disapproval in his every attitude as plainly as
disgust peered from the seams in his dark face; it lurked in his scowl
and in the curl of his long rawhide that bit among the sled dogs. So
at least thought Willard, as he clung to the swinging sledge.

They were skirting the coast, keeping to the glare ice, wind-swept and
clean, that lay outside the jumbled shore pack. The team ran silently
in the free gait of the grey wolf, romping in harness from pure joy of
motion and the intoxication of perfect life, making the sled runners
whine like the song of a cutlass.

This route is dangerous, of course, from hidden cracks in the floes,
and most travellers hug the bluffs, but he who rides with Pierre
"Feroce" takes chances. It was this that had won him the name of
"Wild" Pierre--the most reckless, tireless man of the trails, a scoffer
at peril, bolting through danger with rush and frenzy, overcoming
sheerly by vigour those obstacles which destroy strong men in the North.

The power that pulsed within him gleamed from his eyes, rang in his
song, showed in the aggressive thrust of his sensual face.

This particular morning, however, Pierre's distemper had crystallized
into a great contempt for his companion. Of all trials, the most
detestable is to hit the trail with half a man, a pale, anemic weakling
like this stranger.

Though modest in the extent of his learning, Pierre gloated in a
freedom of speech, the which no man dared deny him. He turned to eye
his companion cynically for a second time, and contempt was patent in
his gaze. Willard appeared slender and pallid in his furs, though his
clear-cut features spoke a certain strength and much refinement.

"Bah! I t'ink you dam poor feller," he said finally. "'Ow you 'goin'
stan' thees trip, eh? She's need beeg mans, not leetle runt like you."

Amusement at this frankness glimmered in Willard's eyes.

"You're like all ignorant people. You think in order to stand hardship
a man should be able to to