give 'em a first chance? You ain't figgerin' on that now, be you?"

"No, I'm with you now, Donald. It's----"

"Shoot on sight!"

"Yes."

Aldous rose from his seat as he spoke.

"You turn in, Mac," he said. "You're about bushed after the work you've
done to-day. I'll keep first watch. I'll conceal myself fifty or sixty
yards from camp, and if we have visitors before midnight the fun will all
be mine."

He knew that MacDonald was asleep within fifteen minutes after he had
stationed himself at his post. In spite of the fact that he had had almost
no sleep the preceding night, he was more than usually wakeful. He was
filled with a curious feeling that events were impending. Yet the hours
passed, the moon flooded the valley again, the horses grazed without alarm,
and nothing happened. He had planned not to awaken old Donald at midnight,
but MacDonald roused himself, and came to take his place a little before
twelve. From that hour until four Aldous slept like the dead. He was
tremendously refreshed when he arose, to find that the candle was alight in
Joanne's tepee, and that MacDonald had built a fire. He waited for Joanne,
and went with her to the tiny creek near the camp, where both bathed their
faces in the snow-cold water from the mountain tops. Joanne had slept
soundly for eight hours, and she was as fresh and as happy as a bird. Her
lameness was almost gone, and she was eager for the day's journey.

As they filed again up the valley that morning, with the early sun
transfiguring the great snow-topped ranges about them into a paradise of
colour and warmth, Aldous found himself mentally wondering if it were
really possible that a serious danger menaced them. He did not tell
MacDonald what was in his mind. He did not confess that he was about ready
to believe that the man on the snow-ridge had been a hunter or a prospector
returning to his camp in the other valley, and that the attack in Tete
Jaune was the one and only effort Quade would make to secure possession of
Joanne. While a few hours before he had almost expected an immediate
attack, he was now becoming more and more convinced that Quade, to a large
extent, had dropped out of the situation. He might be with Mortimer
FitzHugh, and probably was--a dangerous and formidable enemy to be
accounted for when the final settlement came.

But as an immediate menace to Joanne, Aldous was beginning to fear him less
as the hours passed. Joanne, and the day itself, were