Galen Albret merely raised his eyebrows.

[Illustration: THE ARRIVAL OF THE FREE-TRADER. Scene from the play.]

"I've got as much business in this country as you have," continued
the young man, his tone becoming more incisive. "You don't seem to
realize that your charter of monopoly has expired. If the government
was worth a damn it would see to you fellows. You have no more right
to order me out of here than I would have to order you out. Suppose
some old Husky up on Whale River should send you word that you weren't
to trap in the Whale River district next winter. I'll bet you'd be
there. You Hudson Bay men tried the same game out west. It didn't
work. You ask your western men if they ever heard of Ned Trent."

"Your success does not seem to have followed you here," suggested the
Factor, ironically.

The young man smiled.

"This _Longue Traverse_," went on Albret, "what is your idea there? I
have heard something of it. What is your information?"

Ned Trent laughed outright. "You don't imagine there is any secret
about that!" he marvelled. "Why, every child north of the Line knows
that. You will send me away without arms, and with but a handful of
provisions. If the wilderness and starvation fail, your runners will
not. I shall never reach the Temiscamingues alive."

"The same old legend," commented Galen Albret in apparent amusement,