ot stan' my brother lost, so I go after heem.
_Bien donc!_ I hunt de distric' careful, but I fin' not wan track
of heem. I go to trapper shanty one after de other. Peter Rainy,
he gone four days before me, but I not even see heem. _Tonnerre,
sacre!_ De hair stan' on my head wit' fear of somet'ing I do not
know. Mebbe wan beeg _loup-garou_ eat every man in de distric',
an' have his eye on me.

"I go into a shanty, an' fin' paper not burn' In stove just wan
end. I pick it up; I read de English good, like I talk. McTavish
teach me dat on long nights. B-gosh! _m'sieur_, I read dat fas',
once, twice. Den I go out, an' jump into de sleigh, an' point
Ba'tiste's nose to Fort Severn. _Pauvre_ Saint Jean, he die I run
heem so hard, an' now I got only t'ree dogs."

"Stop! Stop!" yelled the factor at the top of his voice, interrupting
with difficulty the tumbling cascade of Cardepie's speech. "Have
you that paper with you?"

"_Oui_, by gar!" cried the Frenchman proudly, digging into his fur
coat, and finally producing a half-sheet of rough paper, charred
at the upper edge.

Fitzpatrick puzzled over it for a full minute. Then, his eyes
began to bulge, and the veins in his neck to swell as he read aloud:

The brotherhood meets in five days at Sturgeon Lake. Bring your
early furs to the post there.

SEGUIS, Chief Free-Trader.

"Free-traders! Free-traders!" he gasped. "By heaven, this is too
much! For thirty years, I have been factor in this district, and
kept the hunters in line. But, now, there's a brotherhood of
free-traders. They'll flout the Company, will they? They'll flout
me, eh? I'll show them, by heaven! I'll show them!"

The factor heaved himself out of his chair, and lumbered excitedly
up and down the room.

"And Seguis is at the head of it. I wonder where that man, McTavish,
is? If he has done his duty, that sneaking half-breed is either
dead or tied to a sledge on his way here. That'll break 'em up
quick enough--taking their leader! It's up to him, now... Cardepie,
send the chief trader of the fort and the doctor to me, at once.
We'll have to organize to meet this situation."

The Frenchman, frightened at the anger of the fierce old man, was
glad enough to make his escape. Fitzpatrick turned to his daughters.

"Girls, please have your dinners brought upstairs to you to-night.
I want to talk business with my chiefs at the table."

Obediently, the two young women rose and left the room, glad, in
th