as keen as those of the animals themselves. As it was, he hadn't
had a chance to guess their presence. The wind always carried the sound
of their rifles away from him rather than toward him; besides, their
guns were of smaller caliber and had a less violent report.

Last of all, they had been careful about shooting. For a certain very
good reason they had no desire for Bill to discover their presence.
There are certain laws, among the northern men, as to trapping rights.
Nothing can be learned in the provincial statute books concerning these
laws. Mostly they are unwritten; but their influence is felt clear
beyond the Arctic Circle. They state quite clearly that when a man lays
down a line of traps, for a certain distance on each side of him the
district is his, and no one shall poach on his preserves. And these
Indians had lately been partners in an undertaking to clear the whole
region of its furs.

They had no idea but that Bill had discovered their trap lines and had
come to make trouble. For all that they sat so still and aloof, Joe's
mind had flashed to his rifle in the corner of the lean-to, six feet
away. He rather wished it was nearer. His friend Pete the Breed was
considerably reassured by the feel of his long, keen-bladed knife
against his thigh. Knives, after all, were very effective at close
work. The two of them could really afford to be insolent.

And they were considerably amazed at Bill's first question. He had left
the snowshoe trail that evidently passed in front of the shelter and had
crossed the snow crust to the mouth of the lean-to. "Did one of you
make those tracks out there?" he asked. He felt certain that one of
them had. He only asked to make sure.

There was a quality in Bill's voice that usually, even from such gentry
as this, won him a quick response. Joe's mind gave over the insolence
it had planned. But for all that Bill's inner triumph was doomed to be
short-lived.

"No," Joe grunted. "Our partner made it. Follow it down--pretty soon
find another cabin."

XIV

Bill only had to turn to see the snowy roof of the cabin, two hundred
yards away down the glade. Ordinarily his sharp eyes would have
discerned it long before: perhaps the same inner spirit, encountered
before this eventful day, was trying to protect him still. He turned
without a word, and no man could have read the expression on his
wind-tanned face. He mushed slowly on to his journey's end.