s face grew drawn and
hopeless. The triumphant and gleeful chortling of the old squaw
attracted his stunned senses.

"Maria," he said quietly, "you have it in your power to ruin and
disgrace me--and my boy. Perhaps, it is the punishment for the
evil thing I did so many years ago. If so, I accept it. I shall
not beg you, or try to buy you, or humble myself. The document you
have is a lie, and you know it. Neither you nor your son shall
ever receive a cent of money from me. All you can claim is the
dirty honor of ruining me. If you want that, take it. I have spoken
my last word on the subject." He ceased, and sat, a picture of
misery.

Suddenly, there was a choking sound from the opposite side of the
tent where Seguis lay.

"I can't stand this!" the half-breed cried. "Listen to me,
commissioner! All of you listen! That certificate is a lie, and
I can prove it. I--"

There was a raucous scream, and Maria leaped upon the wounded man,
and buried her talons in his throat. Rainy and the commissioner
seized her, and tore her from her helpless victim violently, hurling
her back across the tent, screeching.

"Silence!" roared McTavish. "Or I'll gag you with your own fist."

The woman subsided, but Rainy took his place beside her, and relieved
her of two knives that she made an effort to reach.

"Now, go on, Seguis."

"I didn't know, sir," said the half-breed, "until the other day,
that--what I was. Then, Donald McTavish told me, by accident or
design, I don't know which. I asked my mother, and she confessed
that Donald had spoken the truth. So great was her elation at the
success of her claims for me that she showed me that certificate,
signed by the missionary. I was as delighted as she.

"Then the next day she told me how she got it, and since then I
have been in hell. Oh, sir, you don't know what an existence like
mine can be. All my life I have been torn by two natures. I have
wanted things that a man of my standing has no right to wish. I
have brains, I have intelligence; I want to rise above my
handicaps--to be something besides a common half-breed rover of
the woods. I headed the free-traders because it gave me an opportunity
to do something for myself. When my mother showed me that paper I
thought my way was clear, and that I had not worked in vain. But--but,
when she told me how she got it--then, the struggle started.

"I am a McTavish, sir, and I am proud of it; but it is that honorable
blood that is this