Part 14 (1/2)

It is doubtful that a white man--even a resident of the forest such as Bill--could ever have heard as ht from a thousand woodsman ancestors, perceptions almost as keen as those of the aniuess their presence The wind always carried the sound of their rifles away frouns were of smaller caliber and had a less violent report

Last of all, they had been careful about shooting For a certain very good reason they had no desire for Bill to discover their presence

There are certain laws, a can be learned in the provincial statute books concerning these laws Mostly they are unwritten; but their influence is felt clear beyond the Arctic Circle They state quite clearly that when a man lays down a line of traps, for a certain distance on each side of him the district is his, and no one shall poach on his preserves And these Indians had lately been partners in an undertaking to clear the whole region of its furs

They had no idea but that Bill had discovered their trap lines and had come to make trouble For all that they sat so still and aloof, Joe's mind had flashed to his rifle in the corner of the lean-to, six feet away He rather wished it was nearer His friend Pete the Breed was considerably reassured by the feel of his long, keen-bladed knife against his thigh Knives, after all, were very effective at close work The two of them could really afford to be insolent

And they were considerably amazed at Bill's first question He had left the snowshoe trail that evidently passed in front of the shelter and had crossed the snow crust to the mouth of the lean-to ”Did one of you make those tracks out there?” he asked He felt certain that one of them had He only asked to make sure

There was a quality in Bill's voice that usually, even froave over the insolence it had planned But for all that Bill's inner triurunted ”Our partner made it Follow it down--pretty soon find another cabin”

XIV

Bill only had to turn to see the snowy roof of the cabin, two hundred yards away down the glade Ordinarily his sharp eyes would have discerned it long before: perhaps the same inner spirit, encountered before this eventful day, was trying to protect him still He turned without a word, and no man could have read the expression on his wind-tanned face He mushed slowly on to his journey's end

It was a new cabin, just erected, and smoke drifted faintly fro in,” soruffly Bill removed his snowshoes, and the door opened before his hand

He did not have to glance twice at the bearded face to knohose presence he stood His inner senses told hied as he was, there was no chance in heaven or earth for a mistake This was Harold Lounsbury, the same man who had passed his cainia had coht, it was not too late to withdraw He could pretend that he had cahts

After one glance he knew that, froood sense, there was a full reason for withdrawal In the years he ht even reconcile his own conscience to the act Harold leaned forward, but he didn't get up to meet him

Bill scarcely noticed the man's furtive preparations for self-defense

His rifle lay across his knees, and ostensibly he was in the act of cleaning it, but in reality he was holding it ready for Bill's first offensive move He had known of Bill of old; in the circle in which he --there were stories in plenty about this staloodsman For days--ever since he had come here with his Indians and laid down his trap line--he had dreaded just such a visit The real reason for Bill's co did not even occur to hihtened His lips were loose, his eyes nervous and bright, his hands did not hold quite steady But all these observations were at once obliterated and forgotten in the face of a greater, lance the truth swept him like a flood Here was one that the wilderness had crushed in its brutal grasp As far as Bill's standards were concerned, it had broken and destroyed him

This did notand trim: except for a suspicious network of red lines in his cheeks and a yellow tinge to the whites of his eyes, he would have seemed in superb physical condition The evidence lay rather in the expression of his face, and s in which he lived

He had been, to some extent at least, a h Bill's cao He had been clean-shaven except for a s but still friendly Noas like a surly beast His eyes were narrow and greedy,--weasel eyes that at once Bill mistrusted and disliked A scoas at his lips, no lory of upright one from him now He was a friend and a companion of Joe and Pete: in a measure at least he was of their own kind

When the white es of the forest cannot keep pace with him Bill knehy Harold had never written home The wilderness had seized him body and soul, but not in the embrace of love hich it held Bill Obviously he had taken the line of least resistance to perdition He had forgotten the world of er of it Bill read the truth--a fae face

He was utterly unkempt and slovenly His coarse beard covered his lips, his matted hair was dull with dirt, his skin was scarcely less dark than that of the Indians themselves The nails on his hands were foul; the floor of the house was cluttered with rubbish and filth It was a worthy place, this new-built cabin! Even the desolate wastes outside were not coeneracy, his identity could not be inia had pierced the North to seek

Harold removed his pipe ”What do you want?” he asked

For aafar He remembered, when Harold had passed his ca rese before

The same familiarity recurred to him now But he pushed it away and bent his mind to the subject in hand ”You're Lounsbury, of course,” he said

”Sure” This otten his naain--what do you want?”

”You've been living on the Yuga You came up here to trap in my territory”