arrigan. "I was just thinking
what a handsome chambermaid you make. You are so gentle, so nice to
look at, so--"

"DIABLE!" exploded Bateese, dropping his dust cloth and bringing his
huge hands down upon the table with a smash that almost wrecked the
dishes. "You have eat, an' now you lissen. You have never hear' before
of Concombre Bateese. An' zat ees me. See! Wit' these two hands I have
choke' ze polar bear to deat'. I am strongest man w'at ees in all nort'
countree. I pack four hundre' pound ovair portage. I crack ze caribou
bones wit' my teeth, lak a dog. I run sixt' or hundre' miles wit'out
stop for rest. I pull down trees w'at oder man cut wit' axe. I am not
'fraid of not'ing. You lissen? You hear w'at I say?"

"I hear you."

"BIEN! Then I tell you w'at Concombre Bateese ees goin' do wit' you,
M'sieu Sergent de Police! MA BELLE Jeanne she mak' wan gran' meestake.
She too much leetle bird heart, too much pity for want you to die.
Bateese say, 'Keel him, so no wan know w'at happen t'ree day ago behin'
ze rock.' But MA BELLE Jeanne, she say, 'No, Bateese, he ees meestake
for oder man, an' we mus' let heem live.' An' then she tell me to come
an' bring you feesh, an' tell you w'at is goin' happen if you try go
away from thees bateau. You COMPREN'? If you try run away, Bateese ees
goin' keel you! See--wit' thees han's I br'ak your neck an' t'row you
in river. MA BELLE Jeanne say do zat, an' she tell oder mans-twent',
thirt', almos' hundre' GARCONS--to keel you if you try run away. She
tell me bring zat word to you wit' ze feesh. You listen hard w'at I
say?"

If ever a worker of iniquity lived on earth, Carrigan might have judged
Bateese as that man in these moments. The half-breed had worked himself
up to a ferocious pitch. His eyes rolled. His wide mouth snarled in the
virulence of its speech. His thick neck grew corded, and his huge hands
clenched menacingly upon the table. Yet David had no fear. He wanted to
laugh, but he knew laughter would be the deadliest of insults to
Bateese just now. He remembered that the half-breed, fierce as a
pirate, had a touch as gentle as a woman's. This man, who could choke
an ox with his monstrous hands, had a moment before petted a cat,
straightened out rugs, watered the woman's flowers, and had dusted. He
was harmless--now. And yet in the same breath David sensed the fact
that a single word from St. Pierre's wife would be sufficient to fire
his brute strength into a blazing vol