at surge of pride and joy swept over him, but his knees were
trembling.

When his eyes returned to earth, the bohunks were in flight, almost to
a man, though danger was past. Only Conrad, Koppy, and Lefty Werner
were straining at the log that held down their crushed comrades.
Torrance sprang forward and bent his great back to the weight. Two
fewer bohunks were on construction in Canada.

Some one dropped from the trestle close to Torrance, and a hand thrust
itself before the contractor's eyes. In the hand was the end of a
rope. Torrance looked from it to the dusky Indian face above it.

"Cut!" jerked the halfbreed. "Thar's more up thar."

Torrance reached out slowly and took the rope, incredulous.

"'Twan't bolted," said the halfbreed. "An' then that."

A wave of crimson deepened the tan on Torrance's face. Whirling on the
group beside him, he struck viciously, and Koppy hurtled over the log
and lay as still as his dead companions. Instantly Conrad was on the
Pole, running his hands swiftly over the unconscious body. With a
satisfied smile he drew a knife from a leather sheath fastened inside
the trouser-band, and thrust it into his own belt.

"You did well to strike quickly," he muttered to Torrance. "A bullet
would be the proper thing, but we've no direct proof; the Police would
ask questions. He'll be round in a minute."

Torrance was examining the severed rope.

"Where did you find this, Mavy?"

The halfbreed pointed aloft. "Lower end o' the support the pulley was
fastened to. Thar's more."

Torrance was restraining himself for lack of victims on whom to vent
his wrath; Werner had retired to a discreet distance. Koppy was
sitting weakly on the log, wondering what had happened. The contractor
reached out one big hand and jerked him to his feet.

"Now, you--! I'll give you twenty minutes to round up them cusses of
yours and get them up in that trestle. The Indian here'll show you
what you got to do. And you'll stand right under all the time--and
you'll stand there every time we work on the trestle. I'm going to
make it worth your skin to stop this thing. And if after to-day I find
a rope cut or a bolt missing I'll smash you to pulp. And Big Jim
Torrance don't go back on his word. . . . What's more, you and the
other dogs won't be paid for the time it takes to fix things up."

He closed his powerful fist on the Pole's shoulder so tightly that the
man's face twisted.

"You think yo