annot go to
Fort Norman. I cannot be seen on the river."

Victor glanced up in surprise. "Why?"

Rene shifted uneasily. "The police," he answered. "They think I have
broken their law."

"Have you?" The older man's eyes were upon him, and Rene groped in his
mind for words. "What if I have?" he blurted. "What was I to do? I
cannot work with the brigade. They will not have me. Because I am a
better man than the rest of them, they are jealous and refuse to work
beside me." Rene rose from the log and began to strut up and down in the
snow, swinging his arms wide and pausing before his brother to tap
himself upon the chest, thrown out so the blue _capote_ swelled like the
breast of a pouter pigeon. "Behold before you one whose excellence in
all things has wrought his ruin. Julius Caesar was such a man, and the
great Napoleon, and I, Rene Bossuet, am the third. All men fear me, and
because of my great skill and prodigious strength, all men hate me. They
refuse to work beside me lest their puny efforts will appear as the work
of children. I am the undisputed king of the rivers. Beside me none----"

Victor interrupted with a wave of his hand. "Beside you none will work
because of your bragging!" he exclaimed, impatiently. "You are a good
enough riverman when you mind your business, but there are plenty as
good--and some better. What law have you broken?"

"I have traded _hooch_ upon the rivers."

"And when you found that the men of the Mounted were upon your trail you
came here," continued the older man. "You thought you would be safe here
because the police, knowing of your loud-bawled threats against me,
would think we were mortal enemies."

"You knew of that--of my threats?" gasped Rene in surprise, "and you
allowed me to stay!"

Victor laughed shortly. "Of course I knew. But what are threats between
brothers? I knew they were but the idle boastings of a braggart. You
would not dare harm me, or mine. You are a great coward, Rene, and it is
to laugh and not to fear. You strut about like a cock partridge in the
springtime, you clothe yourself with the feathers of the bluejay, and
speak with the tongue of the great grey wolf but your heart is the heart
of the rabbit. But talk gets us nowhere. We will go to the cabin, now.
In the morning I will start for Fort Norman, and you will remain to look
after Helene and the little Victor." The older man rose and faced his
brother. "And if harm comes to either of them while I am g