"'Tis the truth, I'd never ha' know'd ye, an' ye hadn't told me who ye
was," welcomed old Dugald Murchison, as he gripped Hedin's hand in the
door of the little trading post on the shore of Gods Lake. "Knock the
snow from your clothes an' come in to the stove. You're just in time,
for by the signs, the storm that's on us will be a three days'
nor'easter straight off the Bay. Ye'd of had a nasty camp of it if
ye'd of been a day later."
"The guide saw it coming, and we did double time yesterday, and to-day
we didn't stop to eat."
Murchison nodded. "Ye come in up the chain of lakes from the south.
'Tis a man's job ye've done--this time o' year. Ye come up from Lac
Seul, an' by the guide ye've got, I see the hand of John McNabb in your
visit. For old Missinabbee won't go into the woods with everyone,
though he'd go through hell itself for John McNabb. But come on in an'
get thawed out while the Injun 'tends to the dogs, an' then we'll eat."
"Has Wentworth arrived yet?" asked Hedin, as he followed the factor
toward the stove at the rear of the trading room.
Murchison shook his head. "Ye're the first this winter. But who's
Wentworth? An' what'll he be doin' here? An' what are ye doin' here
yourself? I suppose it had to do with John's pulp-wood, but the
options don't expire till sometime in the summer. Why didn't he come
himself?"
It was a long story Hedin unfolded as he and Murchison sat late over
their pipes beside the roaring stove in the long, low trading room.
The factor puffed in silence without once interrupting until the
younger man had finished.
"So John is really goin' to build a paper mill up here? But why did
John hire this Wentworth if he figured he couldn't trust him, an' why
did he have ye under arrest an' bail ye out? Unless----"
The old factor paused and puffed at his pipe the while his eyes were
fixed upon the deep shadows at the far corner.
"Unless what?" asked Hedin eagerly. "I thought, at first, that he
believed me guilty of stealing the coat," he went on when Murchison
didn't answer. "I know now that he didn't, but when I asked him the
reason for my arrest, he only laughed and said that it was all part of
the game." Then the younger man's voice dropped, and Murchison noted
that the look of eagerness had faded from his face. "As to the hiring
of Wentworth," continued Hedin, "that is another matter."
The factor rose slowly and, crossing to the door, opened it and hastily
closed it again as a swirl of fine snow-powder enveloped him. Hedin
caught the muffled roar of the wind, and in the draught of cold air
that swept the room, the big swinging lamp flared smokily. Murchison
returned to his chair and filled his pipe. "How's John's daughter
comin' along?" he asked between puffs of blue smoke.
"Why, Miss McNabb is very well, I believe," answered Hedin, a bit
awkwardly. "You were right about that storm," Hedin hastened to change
the subject. "I'm mighty glad we made Gods Lake to-day, or we would
have been held up for the Lord knows how long."
Murchison suppressed a smile, and hunched his chair a bit nearer the
stove. "When all's said an' done then, the case stands about like
this. This engineer will be along in a few days to begin work locatin'
the power dam, an' lookin' up more pulpwood. John believes that
Wentworth will let the options expire, an' then swing the stuff over to
this man Orcutt an' his crowd--an he's sent you up to block the game."