of the police station and glanced across
the street where a light burned in the office of Hiram P. Buckner,
attorney-at-law. Buckner held the reputation of being by far the most
able lawyer in the vicinity, and Hedin's first impulse was to retain
him. He crossed the sidewalk and paused abruptly as he remembered that
Buckner was McNabb's attorney. Of course, the prosecution of his case
would be in the hands of the state, but--why jeopardize his own case by
employing a man who stood at the beck and call of the very man who was
pushing his prosecution? He turned and proceeded slowly toward his
hotel, and as he passed down the street a man stepped from the office
of the attorney and followed. He was a large man, muffled to the ears
in a fur coat. He followed unnoticed, into the hotel and up the
stairs, and when Hedin entered his room and switched on the light the
man stepped across the threshold and closed the door behind him. He
turned and faced Hedin, throwing back the collar of his coat. Hedin
gasped in amazement. The man was old John McNabb, and to his utter
bewilderment, Hedin caught a twinkle in the old Scot's eye.

XIII

"'Tis the truth, I'd never ha' know'd ye, an' ye hadn't told me who ye
was," welcomed old Dugald Murchison, as he gripped Hedin's hand in the
door of the little trading post on the shore of Gods Lake. "Knock the
snow from your clothes an' come in to the stove. You're just in time,
for by the signs, the storm that's on us will be a three days'
nor'easter straight off the Bay. Ye'd of had a nasty camp of it if
ye'd of been a day later."

"The guide saw it coming, and we did double time yesterday, and to-day
we didn't stop to eat."

Murchison nodded. "Ye come in up the chain of lakes from the south.
'Tis a man's job ye've done--this time o' year. Ye come up from Lac
Seul, an' by the guide ye've got, I see the hand of John McNabb in your
visit. For old Missinabbee won't go into the woods with everyone,
though he'd go through hell itself for John McNabb. But come on in an'
get thawed out while the Injun 'tends to the dogs, an' then we'll eat."

"Has Wentworth arrived yet?" asked Hedin, as he followed the factor
toward the stove at the rear of the trading room.

Murchison shook his head. "Ye're the first this winter. But who's
Wentworth? An' what'll he be doin' here? An' what are ye doin' here
yourself? I suppose it had to do with John's pulp-wood, but the
options don't ex