"Sit down," Stevens said then. "Get out of the moonlight. I've got something to tell you."
"You know what happened," Stevens said, in a low voice. "I lost my outfit."
The packer hesitated for a moment. One of his big hands reached out and gripped John Aldous by the arm.
"Let me ask you something before I go on," he whispered. "You won't take offence--because it's necessary. She looked like an angel to me when I saw her up at the train. But you _know_. Is she good, or----You know what we think of women who come in here alone. That's why I ask."
"She's what you thought she was, Stevens," replied Aldous. "As pure and as sweet as she looks. The kind we like to fight for."
"I was sure of it, Aldous. That's why I sent the kid for you. I saw her in your cabin--after the outfit went to hell. When I come back to camp, Quade was here. I was pretty well broken up. Didn't talk to him much. But he seen I had lost everything. Then he went on down to your place. He told me that later. But I guessed it soon as he come back. I never see him look like he did then. I'll cut it short. He's mad--loon mad--over that girl. I played the sympathy act, thinkin' of you--an' _her_. He hinted at some easy money. I let him understand that at the present writin' I'd be willing to take money most any way, and that I didn't have any particular likin' for you. Then it come out. He made me a proposition."
Stevens lowered his voice, and stopped to peer again about the bush.
Stevens bent so near that his tobacco-laden breath swept his companion's cheek.
"He said he'd replace my lost outfit if I'd put you out of the way some time day after to-morrow!"
For a few moments there was a silence broken only by their tense breathing. Aldous had found the packer's hand. He was gripping it hard.
"Thank you, old man," he said. "And he believes you will do it?"
"I told him I would--day after to-morrow--an' throw your body in the Athabasca."
"Splendid, Stevens! You've got Sherlock Holmes beat by a mile! And does he want you to do this pretty job because I gave him a crack on the jaw?"
"Not a bit of it!" exclaimed Stevens quickly. "He knows the girl is a stranger and alone. You've taken an interest in her. With you out of the way, she won't be missed. Dammit, man, don't you know his system? And, if he ever wanted anything in his life he wants her. She's turned that poison-blood of his into fire. He raved about her here. He'll go the limit. He'll do anything to get her. He's so crazy I believe he'd give every dollar he's got. There's just one thing for you to do. Send the girl back where she come from. Then you get out. As for myself--I'm goin' to emigrate. Ain't got a dollar now, so I might as well hit for the prairies an' get a job on a ranch. Next winter I guess me 'n the kid will trap up on the Parsnip River."