ting at the
lake; the ducks come plenty, sometimes. I want to get away, to start
again somewhere. I've been a failure. I want to get away, right away
south. If he would buy it I could start again. I've had no luck." He had
invented it on the moment, but the girl understood better than Lygon or
Henderley could have dreamed. She had seen the change pass over Lygon.
Henderley had a hand on himself again, and the startled look went out of
his eyes.

"What do you want for your shack and the lake?" he asked with restored
confidence. The fellow no doubt was grateful that his daughter had saved
his life, he thought.

"Five hundred dollars," answered Lygon quickly. Henderley would have
handed over all that lay on the table before him but that he thought it
better not to do so. "I'll buy it," he said. "You seem to have been hit
hard. Here is the money. Bring me the deed to-morrow--to-morrow."

"I'll not take the money till I give you the deed," said Lygon. "It will
do to-morrow. It's doing me a good turn. I'll get away and start again
somewhere. I've done no good up here. Thank you, sir--thank you." Before
they realised it, the tent-curtain rose and fell, and he was gone into
the night.

The trouble was still deep in the girl's eyes as she kissed her father,
and he, with an overdone cheerfulness, wished her a good night.

The man of iron had been changed into a man of straw once at least in
his lifetime.

Lygon found Dupont at the Forks.

"Eh ben, it is all right--yes?" Dupont asked eagerly as Lygon joined
him.

"Yes, it is all right," answered Lygon.

With an exulting laugh and an obscene oath, Dupont pushed out the
canoe, and they got away into the moonlight. No word was spoken for some
distance, but Dupont kept giving grunts of satisfaction.

"You got the ten t'ousan' each--in cash or cheque, eh? The cheque or the
money-hein?"

"I've got nothing," answered Lygon. Dupont dropped his paddle with a
curse.

"You got not'ing! You said eet was all right," he growled.

"It is all right. I got nothing. I asked for nothing. I have had enough.
I have finished."

With a roar of rage Dupont sprang on him, and caught him by the throat
as the canoe swayed and dipped. He was blind with fury.

Lygon tried with one hand for his knife, and got it, but the pressure on
his throat was growing terrible. For minutes the struggle continued, for
Lygon was fighting with the desperation of one who makes his last awful
onset against