nt to
put a bullet in you, we can make our getaway easy enough. The only thing
for you to do is to keep quiet and see that you mind orders."

Talpers ended the interview hastily when McFann came down from the rock.
The men talked together, after shutting Helen in the tent and
reiterating that she would be watched and that the first attempt to
escape would be fatal. Helen flung herself down on the blankets and
watched the fading lights of evening as they were reflected on the
canvas. She could hear the low voices of Talpers and McFann, hardly
distinguishable from the slight noises made by the wind in the trees.
The moon cast the shadows of branches on the canvas, and the noise of
the stream, far below, came fitfully to Helen's ears. She was more at
ease in mind than at any other time since Jim McFann had confronted her
with his rifle over his arm. She felt that Talpers was the moving spirit
in her kidnaping. She did not know how near her knowledge of the
trader's implication in the Dollar Sign tragedy had brought her to
death. Nor did she know that Talpers's rage over Jim McFann's weakening
had been so great that the trader had nearly snatched up his rifle and
shot his partner dead when the half-breed brought Helen into camp.

As a matter of fact, when Talpers had realized that Jim McFann had
failed in his mission of assassination, the trader had been consumed
with alternate rage and fear. A kidnaping had been the last thing in the
world in the trader's thoughts. Assassination, with some one else doing
the work, was much the better way. Running off with womenfolk could not
be made a profitable affair, but here was the girl thrown into his hands
by fate. It would not do to let her go. Perhaps a way out of the mess
could be thought over. McFann could be made to bear the brunt in some
way. Meantime the best thing to do was to get as far into the hills as
possible. McFann could outwit the Indian police. He had been doing it
right along. He had fooled them during long months of bootlegging. Since
his escape from jail the police had redoubled their efforts to capture
McFann, but he had gone right on fooling them. If worst came to worst,
McFann and he could make their getaway alone, first putting the girl
where she would never tell what she knew about them. Across the
mountains there was a little colony of law-breakers that had long been
after Talpers as a leader. He had helped them in a good many ways, these
outlaws, particul