ing off his quarry. Then he broke into a flood of
invective.

"Stop that!" he bellowed. "To hell with YOUR law--we're goin' accordin'
to our own." An ominous echo arose, and in the midst of it the miner,
in his blind fury forgetting his exalted position, took a step too near
the edge of the bar, and fell off into the body of the meeting. With
him fell the dignity of the assemblage. Some one laughed; another took
it up; the nervous tension broke, and a man cried:

"The soldier is right. You can't blame a dinge for stealing," and
another: "Sure! Hogs and chickens are legitimate prey."

Lee was helped back to his stand, and called for order; but the crowd
poked fun at him, and began moving about restlessly till some one
shouted a motion to adjourn, and there arose a chorus of seconders. A
few dissenting voices opposed them, but in the meantime Burrell was
gone, and with him the cause of the tumult; so the meeting broke up of
its own weight a moment later.

As Poleon and Gale walked home, the Frenchman said, "Dat was nervy
t'ing to do."

The trader made no answer, and the other continued, "Stark is goin' for
kill 'im, sure."

"It's a cinch," agreed Gale, "unless somebody gets Stark first."

When they were come to his door the trader paused, and, looking back
over the glowing tents and up at the star-sprinkled heavens, remarked,
as if concluding some train of thought, "If that boy has got the nerve
to take a nigger thief out of a miners' meeting and hold him against
this whole town, he wouldn't hesitate much at taking a white man, would
he?"

"Wal," hesitated the other, "mebbe dat would depen' on de crime."

"Suppose it was--murder?"

"Ha! We ain' got no men lak' dat in Flambeau."

They said good-night, and the old man entered his house to find Alluna
waiting for him, a look of worry on her stolid face.

"What's wrong?" he inquired.

"All night Necia has been weeping."

"Is she sick?" He started for the girl's door, but Alluna stopped him.

"No! It is not that kind of weeping; this comes from the heart. It is
there she is sick. I went to her, but she grew angry, and said I had a
black skin and could not understand; then she went out-doors and has
not returned."

Gale sat down dejectedly. "Yes, she's sick in her heart, all right, and
so am I, Alluna. When did she go out?"

"An hour ago."

"Where is she?"

"Out by the river-bank--I followed her in the shadows. It is best for
her to stay there till she