"But surely you know the country. You will advise me."

"Yes, I will advise you. I am with you in this venture; with you to
the last gasp; with you heart and soul, until that devil MacNair is
dead or driven out of the North, and his Indians scattered to the four
winds."

"Scattered! Why scattered? Why not held together for their education
and betterment? And you say you will be with me until MacNair is
either dead or driven out of the North. What then--will you desert me
then? This MacNair is only an obstacle in our path--an obstacle to be
brushed aside that the real work may begin. Yet you spoke as though he
were the main issue."

Lapierre interrupted her, speaking rapidly: "Yes, of course. Bear with
me, I pray you. I spoke hastily, and without thinking. My feelings
for the moment carried me away. As you see, the marks of the Brute's
hands are still too fresh upon me to regard him impersonally--an
obstacle, as it were. To me he is a brute! A fiend! A demon! I
_hate_ him!"

Lapierre shook a clenched fist toward the North, and the words fairly
snarled between his lips. With an effort he controlled himself. "I
have in mind the very place for your school, a spot accessible from all
directions--the mouth of the Yellow Knife River, upon the north arm of
Great Slave Lake. There you will be unmolested by the debauching
rivermen, and yet within easy reach of any who may desire to take
advantage of your school. The very place above all places! In the
whole North you could not have chosen a better! And I shall accompany
you, and direct the building of your houses and stockade.