people!" cried the Free Trader at last.

Galen Albret drew his heavy revolver and laid it on the table.

"Do so now," he said, quietly.

A pause fell on them, pregnant with possibility. The Free Trader
dropped his head.

"No," he groaned. "No, I cannot. She stands in the way!"

"So that, after all," concluded the Factor, in a gentler tone than he
had yet employed, "we two shall part peaceably. I have wronged you
greatly, though without intention. Perhaps one balances the other. We
will let it pass."

"Yes," agreed Ned Trent with an effort, "we will let it pass."

They mused in silence, while the Factor drummed on the table with the
stubby fingers of his right hand.

"I am dispatching to-day," he announced curtly at length, "the Abítibi
_brigade_. Matters of importance brought by runner from Rupert's House
force me to do so a month earlier than I had expected. I shall send
you out with that _brigade_."

"Very well."

"You will find your packs and arms in the canoe, quite intact."