might depend upon climatic temperature. By chance a resinous
substance which had come from the far North fell into his hands, and he
found that when combined with an African gum it gave astonishing
results. Before this happened, however, his employers had sent him out
on the road, and as they were sceptical about his discovery and he
would not take them fully into his confidence, they merely promised to
keep his place open for a time. Now he was going to search for the gum
at his own expense.

"We'll order the outfit in the morning," he said presently, glancing
towards a man who sat across the room. "Do you think that fellow
Clarke can hear? I've a notion that he's been watching us."

"Does it matter?"

"You must bear in mind that we have a valuable secret, and I understand
he lives somewhere in the country we are going through."

As he spoke the Hudson's Bay agent came in with the sawmiller, who said
to the man whom Harding suspected of listening, "That was good stuff
you gave me a dose of. It fixed my ague, though I had the shakes bad
last night."

Clarke rose and strolled with them to a seat nearer where Blake and
Harding sat. "It's a powerful drug and must be used with discretion.
If you feel you need it, I'll give you another dose. It's an Indian
remedy and I learned the secret up in the timber-belt, but I spent some
time experimenting before I was satisfied about its properties."

Sedgwick, who was passing, stopped and lighted a cigar. "Then you get
on with Indians?"

"I do," Clarke said shortly. "It isn't difficult when you grasp their
point of view."

"Then your experience doesn't tally with mine and I know something
about the primitive races. Their point of view is generally elusive."

"I can credit it." Clarke's tone was sneering. "You people don't try
to understand them; you can't come down to it. Standing firm on your
colour prejudice and official traditions, you expect the others to
agree with you. It's an indefensible policy." He turned to the
Hudson's Bay agent. "You ought to know something about the matter. On
the whole, the Hudson's Bay treat the Indians well; there was a
starving lad you picked up suffering from snow-blindness near Jack-pine
river and sent back safely to his tribe."

"That's so, but I can't tell how you knew. I don't remember having
talked about the thing; and my clerk has never left the factory. There
wasn't another white man within a week's journey."