of race are strong, but the probabilities were
good that in the tribes with whom Jingoss would be forced to seek
sanctuary would be some members, whose loyalty to the Company would
out-balance the rather shadowy obligation to a man they had never seen
before. Jingoss might be betrayed. The chances of it were fairly good.
Sam Bolton knew that the Indian must be perfectly aware of this, and
doubted if he would take the risk. A single man with three dogs ought to
run away from three pursuers with only four. Therefore, the old
woodsman thought himself justified in relying at least on the meagre
opportunity a stern chase would afford.

He did not know where the Indian would be likely to lead him. The
checker-board of the wilderness lay open. As he had before reflected, it
would be only too easy for Jingoss to keep between himself and his
pursuers the width of the game. The Northwest was wide; the plains
great; the Rocky Mountains lofty and full of hiding-places,--it seemed
likely he would turn west. Or the deep forests of the other coast
offered unlimited opportunities of concealment,--the east might well be
his choice. It did not matter particularly. Into either it would not be
difficult to follow; and Sam hoped in either to gain a sight of his
prize before the snow melted.

The Indian, however, after the preliminary twists and turns of
indecision, turned due north. For nearly a week Sam thought this must be
a ruse, or a cast by which to gain some route known to Jingoss. But the
forests began to dwindle; the muskegs to open. The Land of Little Sticks
could not be far distant, and beyond them was the Barren Grounds. The
old woodsman knew the defaulter for a reckless and determined man.
Gradually the belief, and at last the conviction, forced itself on him
that here he gamed with no cautious player. The Indian was laying on the
table the stakes of life or death. He, too, had realised that the test
must be one of endurance, and in the superbness of his confidence he had
determined not to play with preliminary half measures, but to apply at
once the supreme test to himself and his antagonists. He was heading
directly out into the winter desert, where existed no game but the
single big caribou herd whose pastures were so wide that to meet them
would be like encountering a single school of dolphins in all the seven
seas.

As soon as Sam discovered this, he called Dick's attention to it.

"We're in for it," said he, "he's goin