like a wraith, watching from afar just in order to be near it all. He
stands alone and forsaken, harking to the clank of the machinery, every
bolt of which he placed; watching his enemies enrich themselves from that
gleaming silver army, which he considers his very own. He is shunned like
a leper. No man is allowed to speak to him or render him any sort of
fellowship, and it has made the man half mad, it has turned him into a
vengeful, hate-filled fanatic, living only for retaliation. Some time I
believe he will kill Marsh."

"Hm-m! One seems to be forever crossing the trail of this Marsh," said
Boyd, who had listened intently.

"Yes. His aim is to gain control of this whole region, and if you decide
to go into the enterprise you must expect to find him the most
unscrupulous and vindictive enemy ever man had; make no mistake about
that. It's only fair to warn you that this will be no child's play; but,
on the other hand, the man who beats Marsh will have done something." She
paused as if weighing her next words, then said, deliberately: "And I
believe you are the one to do it."

But Emerson was not concerned about his destiny just then, nor for the
dangerous enmity of Marsh. He was following another train of thought.

"And so Balt knows this business from the inside out?" he said.

"Thoroughly; every dip, angle, and spur of it, so to speak. He's practical
and he's honest, in addition to which his trap-site is the key to the
whole situation. You see, the salmon run in regular definite courses, year
after year, just as if they were following a beaten track. At certain
places these courses come close to the shore where conditions make it