upon which the comedies and tragedies of
others had turned. He neither loved nor feared men: sometimes he pitied
them. He pitied Gaspard. He knew what it is to have the heartstrings
stretched out, one by one, by the hand of a Gorgon, while the feet are
chained to the rocking world.

Not till the darkest hour of the morning did the two leave their silent
watch and go to bed. The sun had crept stealthily to the door of the but
before they rose again. Pierre laid his hand upon Gaspard's shoulder as
they travelled out into the morning, and said: "My friend, I understand.
Your secret is safe with me; you shall take me to the place where the
gold is buried, but it shall wait there until the time is ripe. What is
gold to me? Nothing. To find gold--that is the trick of any fool. To win
it or to earn it is the only game. Let the bodies rot about the gold.
You and I will wait. I have many friends in the northland, but there
is no face in any tent door looking for me. You are alone: well, I will
stay with you. Who can tell--perhaps it is near at hand--the hour of
God!"

The huge hard hand of Gaspard swallowed the small hand of Pierre, and,
in a voice scarcely above a whisper, he answered: "You shall be my
comrade. I have told you all, as I have never told it to my God. I do
not fear you about the gold--it is all cursed. You are not like other
men; I will trust you. Some time you also have had the throat of a man
in your fingers, and watched the life spring out of his eyes, and leave
them all empty. When men feel like that, what is gold--what is anything!
There is food in the bay and on the hills.

"We will live together, you and I. Come and I will show you the place of
hell."

Together they journeyed down the crag and along the beach to the place
where the gold, the grim god of this world, was fortressed and bastioned
by its victims.

The days went on; the weeks and months ambled by. Still the two lived
together. Little speech passed between them, save that speech of
comrades, who use more the sign than the tongue. It seemed to Pierre
after a time that Gaspard's wrongs were almost his own. Yet with this
difference: he must stand by and let the avenger be the executioner; he
must be the spectator merely.

Sometimes he went inland and brought back moose, caribou, and the skins
of other animals, thus assisting Gaspard in his dealings with the great
Company. But again there were days when he did nothing but lie on the
skins at