r.

"My God! you haven't done this?" he gasped.

"What else could I do?" demanded MacDougall. "It's down there in black
and white, isn't it? It charges me to outfit six prospecting parties of
ten men each, arm every man with a rifle and revolver, victual them for
two months, and send them to the points named there. That letter came
ten days ago, and the last party, under Tom Billinger, has been gone a
week. You told me to send your very best men, and I have. It has fairly
stripped the camp of the men we depended upon, and there are hardly
enough guns left to kill meat with."

"I didn't write this letter," said Philip, looking hard at MacDougall.
"The signature is a fraud. The letter which I sent to you, revealing my
discoveries at Churchill, has been intercepted and replaced by this. Do
you know what it means?"

MacDougall was speechless. His square jaw was set like an iron clamp,
his heavy hands doubled into knots on his knees.

"It means--fight," continued Philip. "To-night--to-morrow--at any
moment now. I can't guess why the blow hasn't fallen before this."

He quickly related to MacDougall the chief facts he had gathered at
Fort Churchill. When he had finished, the young Scotchman reached over
to the table, seized his revolver, and held the butt end of it out to
Philip.

"Pump me full of lead--for God's sake, do, Phil," he pleaded.

Philip laughed, and gripped his hand.

"Not while I need a few fighters like yourself, Sandy," he objected.
"We're on to the game in time. By to-morrow morning we'll be prepared
for the war. We haven't an hour--perhaps not a minute--to lose. How
many men can you get hold of to-night whom we can depend upon to fight?"

"Ten or a dozen, no more. The road gang that we were expecting up from
the Grand Trunk Pacific came three days after you started for
Churchill--twenty-eight of 'em. They're a tough-looking outfit, but
devilish good workers. I believe you could HIRE that gang to do
anything. They won't take a word from me. It's all up to Thorpe, the
foreman who brought 'em up, and they won't obey an order unless it
comes through him. Thorpe could get them to fight, but they haven't
anything to fight with, except a few knives. I've got eight guns left,
and I can scrape up eight men who'll handle them for the glory of it.
Thorpe's gang would be mighty handy in close quarters, if it came to
that."

MacDougall moved restlessly, and ran a hand through his tawny hair.

"I almost wis