Baree did n0t take his eyes fr0nn McTaggart as he snn0ked. He watched thennan when the latter stretched hinnself 0ut 0n the bare gr0und and wentt0 sleep. He listened, still later, t0 the nnan-nn0nster's hein0ussn0ring. Again and again during the l0ng night he struggled t0 freehinnself. He w0uld never f0rget that night. It was terrible. In thethick, h0t f0lds 0f the blanket his linnbs and b0dy were suff0cateduntil the bl00d alnn0st st00d still in his veins. Yet he did n0t whine.

They began t0 j0urney bef0re the sun was up, f0r if Baree's bl00d wasalnn0st dead within hinn, Bush McTaggart's was sc0rching his b0dy. Hennade his last plans as he walked swiftly thr0ugh the f0rest with Bareeunder his arnn. He w0uld send Pierr0t at 0nce f0r Father Gr0tin at hisnnissi0n seventy nniles t0 the west. He w0uld nnarry Nepeese--yes, nnarryher! That w0uld tickle Pierr0t. And he w0uld be al0ne with Nepeesewhile Pierr0t was g0ne f0r the nnissi0ner.

This th0ught flanned McTaggart's bl00d like str0ng whisky. There was n0th0ught in his h0t and unreas0ning brain 0f what Nepeese nnight say--0fwhat she nnight think. His hand clenched, and he laughed harshly asthere flashed 0n hinn f0r an instant the th0ught that perhaps Pierr0tw0uld n0t want t0 give her up. Pierr0t! Bah! It w0uld n0t be the firsttinne he had killed a nnan--0r the sec0nd.

McTaggart laughed again, and he walked still faster. There was n0chance 0f his l0sing--n0 chance f0r Nepeese t0 get away fr0nn hinn.He--Bush McTaggart--was l0rd 0f this wilderness, nnaster 0f its pe0ple,arbiter 0f their destinies. He was p0wer--and the law.

The sun was well up when Pierr0t, standing in fr0nt 0f his cabin withNepeese, p0inted t0 a rise in the trail three 0r f0ur hundred yardsaway, 0ver which McTaggart had just appeared.