dy rain.

"Get the chief out of there!" yelled someone. "The walls will
fall on him!"

The man who was standing next the entrance shouted to Seguis, but
all he got was a round cursing and a command to stay where he was.
The half-breed was fighting now for more than a few bales of furs;
he was fighting for the very existence of the free-traders. For,
should their skins be lost, their value as an organization would
be gone; and gone, too, all the labor of months, with its accompanying
intrinsic worth.

Now, there were but twenty bales left; now, but fifteen. Seguis's
hands were raw from burns, his fur cap smoldered in half-a-dozen
places. But the man at the door was brave, and Seguis kept on.
Ten--five! Could he hold out? Three--two! One! ... Swearing horribly
with agony, drenched with perspiration, Seguis burst out of the
narrow doorway just as the walls collapsed inward from both sides.

Quick hands wrapped blankets about him, and beat out the fire in
his cap. Still holding the last bale in his hand, he stood grimly,
watching the destruction of the only free warehouse within five
hundred miles. Higher and higher the flames mounted; the circle of
men was driven slowly backward by the fearful heat; the surrounding
snow was eaten away for fifty yards on every side.

Some activity was necessary lest the flying brands do damage to
the shed-tents and the priceless bedding, but the work required
only a few hands.

"Well, thank heaven, we saved the furs!" exclaimed the chief,
at last.

"You saved 'em rather," said a voice admiringly. Seguis interrupted,
roughly.

"Tell the cook to make a couple of buckets of tea, and serve it
around as soon as possible."

"Pardon!" said the functionary referred to; "but there's no tea,
or any other kind of provision in the camp. What little stock
remained was stored in the far end of the building where the fire
took hold first. I tried to get to it, but it was no use. There's
no food."

This was a serious state of affairs, for without his eternal hot
tea the woodsman is almost as wretched as though tobacco had ceased
to grow. And, now, it was almost a matter of life and death, for
the men were mostly without shelter, and worn out with their long
struggle. Charley Seguis walked up and down briskly for a while,
thinking. The fire tumbled in upon itself with a great roar and
geyser of sparks, throwing distant trees and forest aisles into
quick relief. The first indications of dawn,