y-cock, Chief"? said Lazenby to the Factor,
but laughing in Shon's face the while. The Factor gravely replied: "I
knew of the Tall Master years ago on the Far-Off Metal River; and though
I never saw him I can believe these things--and more. You do not know
this world through and through, Lazenby; you have much to learn."

Pierre said nothing. He took the cards from Shon and passed them to and
fro in his hand. Mechanically he dealt them out, and as mechanically
they took them up and in silence began to play.

The next day there was commotion and excitement at Fort Luke. The Golden
Dogs were making preparations for the battle. Pow-wow followed pow-wow,
and paint and feathers followed all. The H. B. C. people had little to
do but look to their guns and house everything within the walls of the
Fort.

At night, Shon, Pierre, and Lazenby were seated about the table in the
common-room, the cards lying dealt before them, waiting for the Factor
to come. Presently the door opened and the Factor entered, followed by
another. Shon and Pierre sprang to their feet.

"The Tall Master," said Shon with a kind of awe; and then stood still.

Their towering visitor slowly unloosed something he carried very
carefully and closely beneath his arm, and laid it on the table,
dropping his compass-like fingers softly on it. He bowed gravely to
each, yet the bow seemed grotesque, his body was so ungainly. With the
eyes of all drawn to him absolutely, he spoke in a low sonorous tone:
"I have followed the traveller fast"--his hand lifted gently towards
Shon--"for there are weighty concerns abroad, and I have things to say
and do before I go again to my people--and beyond.... I have hungered
for the face of a white man these many years, and his was the first
I saw;"--again he tossed a long finger towards the Irishman--"and it
brought back many things. I remember... " He paused, then sat down;
and they all did the same. He looked at them one by one with distant
kindness. "I remember," he continued, and his strangely articulated
fingers folded about the thing on the table beside him, "when"--here the
cards caught his eye. His face underwent a change. An eager fantastic
look shot from his eye, "when I gambled this away at Lucca,"--his hand
drew the bundle closer to him--"but I won it back again--at a price!" he
gloomily added, glancing sideways as to someone at his elbow.

He remained, eyes hanging upon space for a moment, then he recollected
hims