e to assist Husky.

They seized Sam between them and started to drag him toward the door.
Sam struggled desperately and vainly in their grasp. Joe, attracted by
the raised voices, had run in again. He, for his own ends, showed a
disposition to help Sam. Jack overawed him with a look.

"Come along," he commanded.

The girl showed no further concern in the matter. Sam, observing her,
suddenly ceased to struggle.

Outside the door they released him. When the four of them were joined
together, they paused for a moment to decide which direction they
should take.

"That sand-bank at the mouth of the creek," suggested Jack.

The sound of a shot rang muffled in the cabin behind them.

For an instant they were stupefied. A strange joy lightened Sam's
breast. Dropping their bundles, they ran back, and, flinging the door
open, stood back warily, half expecting to be received with a
fusillade.

The smell of gunpowder assailed their nostrils. The light of the fire
revealed Husky's burly figure sprawling on his back, with his feet
among the tin dishes on the hearth. The girl was not to be seen.

They cautiously ventured in. She was not behind the door. She could
not have gone out by the door without their knowing it, for they had
been within ten paces. Both windows were intact. The only possible
place of concealment within the shack was the bed. A swift
investigation proved that there was nothing in it or under it.

The old feeling of awe of the supernatural returned. They avoided each
other's eyes. The figure on the floor stirred a little and groaned. A
dark, wet stain was spreading on his shirt. Jack dropped to his knees
beside him.

"Through the shoulder," he said to the others. "No vital organ."

"Can you hear me?" he asked of the wounded man.

"A she-devil!" muttered Husky. "A devil!"

"Where did she go?"

"I don't know. Everything turned black. A devil--had a gun in her
dress! Speaks English, too. Understood every word!"

None of Husky's mates had any skill in surgery. Like men in the flush
of their strength, they refused to harbour the thought of injury or
disease, and had come to the wilderness ill provided.

Jack, lacking antiseptics or healing medicaments, bound up the
shoulder roughly. They laid Husky on the bed and endeavoured to forget
him. Jack, Shand, and Joe elected to sleep in the stable to escape the
injured man's stertorous breathing and his groans. They took care to
bar themselves in against