e pines
in Florida, but when you get right up to their northern limit you'll
find a difference."

"There's something in that," the sawmiller agreed.

"If you're going up to their northern limit, you'll see some of the
roughest and wildest country on this earth," remarked the Hudson's Bay
agent. "It's almost impossible to get through in summer unless you
stick to the rivers and to cross it in winter with the dog-sledges is
pretty tough work."

"So I've heard," said Harding. "Now I'm going to take a smoke. Will
you come along?"

They declined, and when he left them one smiled at the other.

"They're smart people across the frontier, but to send a man into the
northern timber-belt looking for paint trade openings or resin they can
make varnish of is about the limit to commercial enterprise."

CHAPTER V

MRS. KEITH GETS A SURPRISE

Harding was taking out a cigar in the vestibule when a man brushed past
him wearing big mittens and a loose black cloak such as old-fashioned
French-Canadians sometimes use.

"Why, Blake!" he cried. "What have you got on? Have you been
serenading somebody?"

"I can't stop," the other answered with a grin. "Open that door for
me, quick."

A porter held back the door, but as Blake slipped through Harding
seized his cloak.

"Hold on; I want a talk with you. I've been waiting all day."

Blake made an effort to break loose, and as he did so the bob-cat
dropped from beneath his arm and fell, spitting and snarling, to the
ground. Its fur was torn and matted, tufts were hanging loose, and the
creature had a singularly disreputable and ferocious appearance. Blake
made an attempt to recapture it, but, evading him easily, it ran along
the floor with a curious hopping gait and disappeared among the
pillars. Then he turned to his friend with a rueful laugh.

"You see what you've done! It's gone into the rotunda, where everybody
is."

Harding looked at him critically. "You seem sober. What made you get
yourself up like an Italian opera villain and go round the town with a
wild beast under your arm?"

"I'll tell you later. What we have to do now is to catch the thing."

"It's time," said Harding drily. "The circus is beginning."

Men's laughter and women's shrieks rose from the entrance hall, which,
in a Canadian hotel, serves as general meeting place and lounge.
Somebody shouted orders in French, there was a patter of running feet,
and then a crash as of chairs bei