"What brought you so far north, then?" the factor quickly demanded, believing that he knew why this stranger had journeyed to the James Bay watershed, for in his desk lay a letter six months old warning the northern posts to keep a lookout for one François Hertel, wanted for murder at Coocoocache, on the Saint Maurice.
François Hertel shrugged his wide shoulders, looking Campbell fair in the eyes.
"I keel a man las' year at Coocoocache," he said quietly.
"You are François Hertel?" asked the factor, amazed at the admission.
"Yes, I keel de man who burn de cabane and tak' ma wife. Dey hunt me tru de long snow from de Saint M'rees to Grand Lac, but dey not tak' François Hertel. Dees spring I fin' her. She ees out dere wid de canoe."
Hertel pointed through the door to the shore, then turned fiercely upon the factor.
"De man I keel cum lak' de wolf in de night to tak' ma wife. Wat would you do?"
The frankness of the voyageur carried with it the aroma of truth. The factor knew men in the rough, and this one shaped up square; or else he was playing a game too subtle for the Scotchman's understanding. Still, the orders from Ottawa received in the Christmas mail were not to be lightly ignored.
"Hertel, if what you say is so, I don't blame you for getting your man and taking to the bush. But if
