Joe Delesse tried to peer through the cloud of smoke at Reese Beaudin's
face.

"Yes, I know him. Does he happen to be a friend of yours?"

Reese laughed softly.

"I have heard of him. They say that he is a devil. To the west I was told
that he can whip any man between Hudson's Bay and the Great Bear, that he
is a beast in man-shape, and that he will surely be at the big sale at
Lac Bain."

On his knees the huge hands of Joe Delesse clenched slowly, gripping in
their imaginary clutch a hated thing.

"Oui, I know him," he said. "I know also--Elise--his wife. See!"

He thrust suddenly his two huge knotted hands through the smoke that
drifted between him and the stranger who had sought the shelter of his
cabin that night.

"See--I am a man full-grown, m'sieu--a man--and yet I am afraid of him!
That is how much of a devil and a beast in man-shape he is."

Again Reese Beaudin laughed in his low, soft voice.

"And his wife, mon ami? Is she afraid of him?"

He had stopped smoking. Joe Delesse saw his face. The stranger's eyes